Little Bit of Spine
by Beckon
Summary: It's been two weeks since they were last conscious. Memory fails to recognize the new scars that replaced the once grotesque wounds that had threatened to lay them out in slaughter. What happened on that mission? "What happened to us?"
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Earlier I said I wished I had an actual story idea that would involve this couple... somehow, it was like the next day I had a working thought. Now, it's still a work in progress and I'm trying to piece together the story I'm hoping for as well as the portrayal of it. It's going to be kind of balancing out between the story and flashback scenes which hopefully won't be too difficult to follow. **

"How long have I been out?"

"Two weeks as of today."

A short curse left her lips as she pressed her palms into her forehead as though in an attempt to rid herself of the throbbing headache that wreck havoc on her mind; creating a massacre of her senses. She held the position for a moment before she pushed fingers through her dark, unruly bangs as though in a sign of letting the headache off just this once. "How did that happen?"

The equally dark-haired Captain across from her only shook her head in response; the black braid that dressed the front of her torso swaying very little at the motion. "We can't be for certain as to what exactly caused the injuries but massive trauma directed towards the head and chest areas are to blame for your blackout. You suffered a few spinal injuries and broken bones to your extremities as well but those have since been healed. We've just been waiting for you to finally come around and wake up. However, before any kind of investigation or interrogation can begin, I must enforce that you have a few more days of rest; your body will need its own time to properly heal now and you yourself will need to be mentally fit in any case of questioning."

The more the woman talked, the more she became frustrated.

How did this happen?

What the hell exactly happened out on that mission? She couldn't even remember what it was about anymore… her memory continued to elude her grasp again and again till frustration seemed to threaten physical violence.

Her body was weakened from the constant bed rest and the full extent of her injuries. What did the woman say she suffered from again? Mostly head trauma of some sort? How could that have happened? Enemies could barely land a hit on her and yet… one of them managed to pull off that kind of damage?

She didn't believe it.

"Does anyone know any details about that mission?"

The Fourth Captain only shook her head once more. "I'm afraid not. Only you and Captain Tousen were informed of the details."

"Captain Tousen?"' she repeated as though hoping that a second sounding of the name would help her recall a face to it; it only took her a few delayed seconds before she could fully remember who they were talking about. "Why the hell would he know?"

"He was your partner on the mission."

Partner? She never brought any partners on her missions. They were just a nuisance and got in her way; they only succeeded in slowing her down. "Alright, well where is he?"

"He's in the room next door." Unohana started.

"I need to speak with him."

"I'm afraid he hasn't entirely recovered either; he's still unconscious."

"Still unconscious- were we unconscious when you found us?" Soifon questioned sharply towards the other Captain.

"When you arrived in my care, yes; if there was still a lingering piece of consciousness left when the rescue team found you… that much I do not know. We've been given little information about the overall situation, but to be honest, that is not my place to question. I was put in charge to make sure you were both healed and put back to stable conditions- the rest, you will have to ask another one of the Captains."

The lack of proper answers were beginning to become irritating as she released a sharp exhale and looked around the barren room to try and calm herself. "Get a hold of someone, anyone who has answers about this whole mess and tell them that I demand to speak to them as soon as possible; I do not like riddles, Captain Unohana, and this is by far the worst one yet."

"Ah yes, well the head trauma did make quite a broken puzzle of your memory; I will put your request through as soon as I finish my rounds to the other patients." She nodded before she stepped back from the front of her bed. "I'll have some of my staff drop in later to assist with anything if you need it."

"One more question." She interrupted; stopping the woman as she made her motion to leave. "Can I at least take a shower?"

"Normally, I would refrain from it due to bandages and some lingering injuries… however, I suppose it wouldn't hurt; after all, it looks like you could use one."

She restrained herself from throwing a pillow at the woman and instead opted to wait until the door had closed before tossing one aside.

Throwing aside the thin hospital covers, she was only mildly taken back by the force she had to exhort on herself to push her body to move; weakness seemed to have settled into her muscles as they strained to keep up with her motions. The lower portion of her body was still dressed in her black uniform slacks and white sash, which was looking a bit off-white at this point; the upper half of her body was bound in wrappings. She didn't like the way they compressed against her muscles and rubbed into her skin but she would be able to rid herself of them soon enough. The shift of weight to her feet felt as though it threatened to break her ankles instead as her body seemed to delay it's own strength for a moment. When stability finally found a comfort zone, the pain of her stiff joints and muscles set in and wrecked it's own twisted pleasure on her nerves.

Thankfully she was well adapted to that kind of discomfort and annoyance.

She had trained herself to be able to withhold against certain amounts of bodily harm and severe damage, so this event did little to hinder her conscious form now.

As painfully bearing as it was, the full sense of hurt was almost satisfying as she pulled her entire body through a much needed stretch; listening to the rather grotesque snaps and groans of her muscles and bones as they readjusted themselves beneath her skin.

* * *

><p>While she normally preferred a shower consisting of nothing more then cold water, the hotter option just felt so refreshing against her skin and stiff muscles. The generic shampoo that was offered had a bit of a floral scent to it, which she distasted but as long as it got rid of the oily, matted feel of her black hair then by all means there were certain things that could be overlooked.<p>

The heat of the water however flushed her skin crimson red and made the new additions of imperfection on her body even more blatantly obvious. Thick, paste-white scars sealed the once would-be fatal injuries that had wrecked her body in a bleeding, run down mess. It felt like they were all over her; a wide scar arched over her left breast from where some kind of weapon had easily tore itself through the fatty tissue. She wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to remember that wound specifically.

That wasn't the one thing that pissed her off the most though.

No, that award belonged to another.

She had barely finished redressing herself before she was out of the showering cell and storming down the corridor; startling any of the Fourth division members who were unfortunate enough to be in the way of her warpath. Given the current location and the mass amount of rooms that were available to search through, she supposed it didn't take her long to track down the matching black-haired, Fourth Division Captain from before.

"Is there something I can assist you with?"

"This." she replied bluntly; revealing to the woman the chopped end of one of her body-length braids. The golden ring that had once accompanied the end of it was missing, as well as more than half the bounded piece. What had once touched the back of her legs now barely stroked the back of her shoulder- ultimately showcasing the sheer unbalance between the two braids. "Was this missing when I came in?"

"Well yes… we would have no need to cut your hair unless it was for medical reasons."

"Are you aware of how long it took me to grow this out?"

"About as long as it took me to grow my own, I suppose." The woman countered. "I suppose somewhere in the mission of yours, someone cut it off."

She supposed it was a bit of an overreaction to be this upset over something so meaningless… but it was still irritating; those golden rings had been a gift and now she was one short- not to mention she would have to chop off the other one to keep the two in balance and to avoid looking ridiculous. Just more things to waste time. And how the hell was someone about to catch her long enough to cut it off?

What exactly had they been going up against that could expose so many wounds and be fast enough to catch her?

And be strong enough to knock the both of them out for an extended period of time?

"Where did you say Captain Tousen's room was again?"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: The chapters are going to be a little short while I try to figure out what the hell I'm doing but so far, in my mind, it's working out pretty well; I just have to see if I can't get it written down to follow the same. **

The door clicked quietly behind her as she used bare fingertips to ease it back into its frame; moving with such caution to detail it was like she was afraid of waking him. But if he was anything like she had apparently been for the past two weeks, it was near impossible to do such a thing.

Walking towards his empty bedside, she trailed her fingers against the soft covers along the bed before they lightly touched at his open hand. There was a moment of hesitation as she touched at the discolored scars that burned into his palm; what exactly happened to them out there? Bits and pieces did little to explain everything… it was only temporary though, she was certain everything would come back in order after a few days of rest and recollection.

Until then, they were left with too many questions and too much annoyance.

Much like her, what part of his chest wasn't covered by the thin Division blanket was wrapped in tight bandages; the white material coming into sharp contrast against his darker skin. Discolored tissue continued to mark scars of all variations across the visible flesh. Her eyes were almost instantly drawn to the wide scar that tore across his left cheek; it was one of many facial scars that left only more questions that anything else.

Come to think of it… she didn't even think to review her new collection of scars. There were those she spotted when in the shower but there were probably more that would take a mirror or two to spot; it felt like she didn't even own her skin anymore.

Damn, it looked like he was just sleeping.

She was tempted to just give a little punch to test that theory- although there were probably too many witnesses around to try and attempt such a thing.

Shaking her head, she glanced around the small room before she took interest in the small chair offered in one corner of the room. She retrieved it from its place and moved it back to where she had been standing; it was going to be awhile with a lot of waiting so she might as well make herself comfortable.

If he had been her 'partner' then she needed to wait for him to revive himself back into the conscious world and see if he remembered anything. She assumed that by the time that happened, she would already be recollecting her own memories. Maybe with the two of them working together on it, they could completely uncover the whole thing before a third party had to come in.

It was embarrassing enough to be taken down with such injuries and not remember a damn thing about what happened. Yeah, so Captain Unohana related it to massive head trauma but that wasn't enough for her. She had to know what happened. Patience was not one of her best attributes but now was as good of time as any to test it.

**X**

"_This place doesn't look too shabby." She remarked as she pushed aside the creaky door and peeked inside. For a small lodging building, the room wasn't too entirely abused- she had seen and stayed in far worst ones. Stepping inside, she listened to the equally squeaking floor that seemed to distaste her added weight; and added even more distaste of his. "Not exactly what I imagined to be this far up." _

"_Same here." he agreed as he followed in after her; allowing for the door to slide tightly closed behind them. "However, as far as I'm concerned, after all that traveling we completed today, any room would be sufficient."_

"_I'll have to second that." she nodded as she finished her small evaluation of the place before she looked over to notice just the one bed pushed against the far wall. "Looks like they only had one bed to spare, is that going to be a problem?"_

"_Only if you make it one." he reminded; already removing the band from his hair to allow the thick dreads to fall freely. "I think most of the people here already making… assumptions anyways." _

_She couldn't tell if she wanted to laugh or throw up at the remark; she wrinkled her nose at it regardless. "I think it would be best if I didn't make a comment on it."_

"_I would like to agree with that statement."_

"… _Although… it would really be a shame to waste it's purpose…" _

"Captain Soifon?"

The sudden call of her name jerked her from her unintentional slumber as she nearly tipped herself backwards in her chair from the shock. It took her seconds to recompose herself before she looked up to see who had made the daring call.

"I apologize for the startle, uh… Captain Unohana told me that she thought you would have returned to your own room by now." Isane started as she stood on the other side of the bed across from her. "Your Lieutenant dropped by earlier but I turned him away because I thought you were resting."

A harsh scoff left her as she leaned back in the chair once more. "I completely forgot about that fat bastard… regardless I should be thanking you for keeping him away from me; there's no sense of knowing what kind of damage I might have enacted on him instead."

"He's been in every day to check on you…"

"He probably did so to count his prayers for every day I was unconscious." she remarked as she used one hand to run back through her hair. "Do you know what the time is?"

"It's well past midnight."

Past midnight? Shit, how long was she asleep?

"That is… interesting." she muttered to herself, maybe just a little startled by the news. "I uh… I just thought I'd sit in here and wait for him to wake up or force him to if I have to."

The Lieutenant seemed to let out a small, nervous chuckle as she went about on her business to check on the clipboard that had been hung on the wall. "We've all been doing that for awhile now. To be honest, some people were getting worried that you were never going to wake up because of the severity of some of your injuries."

"It was two weeks, that's not enough time to be 'worried' over." Soifon scoffed lightly. "How 'severe' were some of these injuries anyways?"

Isane let out a low whistle with a small shake of her head. "With the head trauma and the massive amount of blood loss paired together… we were surprised your systems hadn't entirely failed; a few of your internal organs had already collapsed by the time you were delivered to our Division. There was a lot of internal damage… we couldn't get over how punctured a lot of your organs were. Whoever you were fighting against had a lot to say when it came to doing severe damage."

She nodded with the words and touched at a few of the scars that weren't hidden under bandages.

"I guess it must be odd." the woman continued as she flipped through the papers before she set the clipboard back in place. "To have suffered that much damage and not remember a thing of it."

"I can't say it's the first time it's happened or if it's going to be the last." she remarked. "It's certainly one of the more… interesting cases though."

"It's the only thing the city's been able to talk about for these past few weeks."

"One thing about it still confuses me…" she started. "Why give me a partner?"


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: So I have the outline of the entire backstory finished, so I should have a better grasp of things at this point. I'm kind of surprised that people are interested in this story so I'm going to try really hard to nail everything perfectly. Or at least as close as I can get. Dialogue is a bit off in later chapters but hopefully I don't stray too far from character portrayals. Anyways, enough talking for now, thanks for the reviews so far.**

_In those two seconds of delay between their switching positions, he watched as the massive creature reared back to reveal the rib-like structures that completely covered it's sensitive neck in a protective brace; a crackling of bone shook through each rib before they peeled themselves away from the sickly colored skin. He thought they were revealing a weakness…_

_He was wrong._

_It was like a hundred tiny, blade-like arms protruded from the creature; each one throbbing for the heat and lust of battle. _

_And she was right in the dead center of it._

_The first few that shot forward were cut down easily by the sharp side of her sword as it effortlessly split aside the bone; dressing and showering itself in the thick, mucus-like blood that erupted from the broken limbs. A small group of them managed to swoop underneath her sword and shot up towards her body; two of them impaling through her sides while two more pinned themselves against the side of skull. In the heat of the battle, she twisted her body to fight them only to scream as they ripped into her flesh at any fighting motion. _

"_Soifon!"_

_A fifth blade appeared above before it brought itself down sharply; splitting open her forehead before it pulled back. Every motion was almost too quick to even recognize the difference between each strike aside from every scream that followed them. With each strike hitting harder than the last, it ripped open the flesh of her forehead and scraped at the bone underneath; scraping turned into cracking as it proceeded to break open her skull as best it could. _

_Blood coated her face as hands fought to free herself from its grasp before it could pierce deeper into the last one-hit kill. Fingers bloodied by the touch of the blades that held her tightly in place despite her given strength to get loose._

_He couldn't understand why it took him so long to respond; had he hesitated or was the creature moving faster than he could comprehend? It didn't matter. He had to get her out of there- that was his priority._

_His sword repeated the same actions her own had done before as he sliced his way through the rib-like arms till he was within reach of her. He drew back before he let his sword fly; watching as it rotated in a perfect disc motion and split through every obstacle in its way. _

_There was a crack as the attacking blade was severed._

_The extra weight in one arm was almost comforting as he pulled her from its grasp and separated them completely from the blood-thirsty blades. _

"_Change of plans… no close-range combat." _

"Shit…"

The word was barely heard from his lips as one hand moved to the empty ringing in his head. The sudden shock of consciousness didn't entirely sit well with his body as a sense of numbness settled over quickly; it felt like every limb was weighed down with lead bars and that illusion only seemed to deepen the ringing even more.

It took a moment for everything to settle down before he could even think to get a grasp on his environment. The environment was odd and something felt out of place about it… this wasn't his Division house; the faint rush of voices out in the corridor only pushed for the Fourth Division placement instead. What the hell was he doing here?

"Soifon." he started as he pushed himself away from the flat of the mattress underneath him; stopping only when it felt as though the muscles in his arms suddenly hated him for the action. The last thing he remembered was all that blood and that… 'thing' trying to burrow into her skull and doing a pretty damn good job at doing so. The flesh had been peeled apart and what thin muscle wall had been present was gone; revealing the white of her skull through the flush of blood that erupted from the unstable slashes.

"I can't tell if I should be flattered or disturbed that you said my name so soon; on second thought, I don't think I even want to know."

That was her voice.

A second check revealed that to be her energy level as well and that… she was seated rather close to him. From what he could tell, she was almost in perfect condition now; maybe a little weakened but there were no distress signals from her energy so that was a good thing. "What happened?"

"Uh well… long story short, we've both been unconscious for about two weeks now." she answered as she rubbed at the small sore spot on the back of her neck. "To be frank, I have no clue what the hell happened before those two weeks that would have put us here. As far as I remember, it was some kind of mission but that's about it."

He only nodded as any other appropriate forms of response didn't seem to fit. It sure as hell felt like he had been unconscious for about two weeks and… he didn't have that many recollections about what had happened. "… How's your head doing?"

"My head?" she repeated. "Well it's still attached to my body unfortunately and I've had this ever present headache from the moment I woke up. Why?"

"Because that… thing was attacking you." he started as he forced his body into a more comfortable sitting position that didn't relay too heavily on his arms; one hand moved to push aside his dark dreads. "It split your forehead wide open."

She frowned slightly at the words before fingertips lifted briefly to touch at the area; feeling the rough grooves of yet another thick scar. "Do you… remember anything else?"

"Other than that it tried to give you a homemade lobotomy, no." he sighed; fingers rubbing at his sore temples. "You honestly don't remember any of that?"

"No." she answered slowly.

"I kind of find that hard to believe."

The sound of the door clicking as it was pushed open from the opposite end interrupted her next remark as she turned to see who the intruding guest was; and of course it had to have been the Fourth Captain herself.

"Kaname, I'm glad to see-"

"When you were healing my injuries, what kind of head wound did I have?" Soifon interrupted; possibly catching the woman momentarily off-guard. "How severe was it?"

"It was jagged like someone had taken several miss-hits before they were able to land the correct blow; it was all the way down to your skull and had partially cracked it." Unohana answered calmly. "It's what made a majority of your head trauma, although other cracks revealed that there had been other just as damaging blows."

She turned her attention back to the just revived Captain. "Are you positive you don't remember anything else? Do you remember what that 'thing' looked like?"

"Yeah… it kind of looked like this giant world of darkness."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you asked a blind man what the hell it looked like." he countered back to her; feeling the slight rise in her energy at the provoking words.

"I really must recommend that you two rest rather than argue here." Unohana started. "You've both been through quite a bit and with being out of the loop for two weeks, you may want to take as much time for resting as you can get; by tomorrow, we'll practically be having meetings in your hospital rooms."

"Just what I wanted." she muttered. "Look, we just want to get to the start of this like everyone else… I'm sure enough of the Society was in a panic upon our 'discovery' but we need to know what happened exactly. And if that 'thing' that tried to kill us is still out there, assuming that this 'thing' is what put us here in the first place."

"And if it's the same one that split your head wide open." he added.

"Do you have any more pillows in supply? I want to make sure Captain Tousen here is comfortable enough."

"Captain Soifon, Division Four frowns upon the usage of our supplies to endorse violence against others." Unohana started. "Now then, I'll be sure to inform the others of your revival; everyone's been on edge about this whole thing… I'm sure they'll be happy with the news. I'll drop in later to check on you, however my Division staff are always here in case you need something. Can I trust for you two to be in the same room?"

"Don't worry, I don't think either of us could do that much damage to each other even if we wanted to." He assured; watching as the woman seemed to glance between the two of them before she nodded. He waited till the door had closed completely before he turned back to the other woman. "That's the last time I ever go on a mission with you."

"What? I'm still trying to figure out why the hell they gave me a partner in the first place and why the hell it had to be you." she snapped lightly.

"Face it, if we both came out of that mission like this, you would've been dead if you had gone alone."

"I probably ended up like this from trying to save your stupid ass."

"Maybe I should've let that thing take your head off."

**A/N: One more thing, I do realize that I put a lot of details into the flashback even though he is blind but I couldn't figure out how to change it after it had already been typed. I wanted to portray it that he can see the energy so it forms an outline of objects and people; again, the flashback was a bit detailed for that but hopefully it won't cause too much of a problem. **


	4. Chapter 4

Despite being out cold for about two weeks, a full night of rest was still just as refreshing. It helped to uncover a little bit of memory but nothing that could give him clues about what really happened out there; it felt like they were just memories leading up to it while completely avoiding how they ended up here. A cold, morning shower helped to rejuvenate his dull senses and bring attention to the strong course of scars that seemed to litter his entire body. Fingertips traced the thick tissues that plagued his chest and tightened around his shoulders; each one marking the ghost of different injuries that had wrecked his body to the point of shutting down.

It felt like he could now understand why she had felt the need to question everything; why she felt the need to ask why this scar was here and what the injury was like. There were so much to figure out and the lack of motivation in doing so was irritating in the least.

They wanted to know what happened but their bodies refused to let them remember it; it was like their bodies were trying to get back at them for having to sustain so much abuse from the battle.

Either way though, maybe talking more about the subject would help to stir up memories on what happened out there, wherever the hell they were. A few of the Captains wanted to immediately set up a meeting to discuss the whole thing and in all honesty, he was more than willing to agree to it. His body was hating him less this morning and gave into simple movements with little to no resistance. Not to mention, there was so much to go over. So many questions that could be answered about what happened before the mission had started and what happened once they had been located.

Redressing himself, he stepped back into the hospital room but stopped the moment he took note of another presence in the room.

"Are you up for this?"

He chuckled lightly at the question as he continued on his way before he took the thick band that had been tossed aside for a moment; using it to pull his hair back before he turned his attention back to the woman in the doorway. It was easy to sense that she seemed less than thrilled about everything going on; more than likely with that ever familiar scowl dressed on her face like it was formal attire. Her arms were tightly crossed in front of her with the upper portion of her body still wrapped tightly in bandages.

"Something like that." he answered; trying not to seem too bothered by the few strands that were now too short to be pulled back. "There's nothing like walking into a meeting to talk about a subject I'm still not entirely caught up on."

"Do you remember anything else?"

"A few pieces every now and then but… it has nothing to do with what actually happened." he shrugged. "It's mostly images and memories of us getting to some blacked out location but nothing important. It's like I can remember right up to us entering some kind of establishment and then it cuts away."

She nodded and tried to just go with the fact since most of his memories were just in the forms of energy cutouts, he might've had an easier time remembering than she did; she was the one who saw everything from colors to images and yet… all there was were blurs and blacked out areas. "Same here… but since this is only a temporary thing, hopefully we'll get around to actually remembering things soon enough. I sure as hell know I'm curious about it- I could barely sleep last night because of it."

"Same here."

"There's nothing more torturous than having a scar and knowing nothing about how it got there." she remarked.

"Because you can't remember the story that went along with it?" he replied.

"Something like that."

He nodded with her before he slowly walked over to where she was standing. "Where exactly are we supposed to be meeting with the other Captains?"

"Well technically we were supposed to meet here because Captain Unohana put in the request for it but… I don't really see the point in it. I'm feeling better and I can walk now so there's no sense in hiding in a hospital bed all day; not to mention, it just seems… weak to focus a meeting around the injured." she answered. "I see nothing wrong in taking the meeting to them instead. We're clearly physically healed- it's just some mental parts that are failing."

"Sounds exactly like something you'd do." he chuckled. "But, let's get this over with and see if we can't get anything else out of it."

"About time." she remarked as she pushed herself from the doorframe and stepped back out into the hallway. "To be honest, they're probably already together talking about us."

"That slow of a day?"

"Well apparently we've been the talk of the town for weeks now." she scoffed lightly. "You would think people would get tired of it after awhile; shit, this isn't the worst thing that's happened."

He shook his head with a soft chuckle as he followed her down the winding corridors of the Division House; trying to keep some form of stepping behind her. It was going to be interesting to say the least to see what the other Captains had to say, although he was more curious as to what her reaction was going to be really. She certainly had a lot to say. "Well try to avoid putting someone else in a coma, I'm sure the city has had enough of those already."

"A little more wouldn't hurt though."

* * *

><p>"Captain Soifon, Captain Tousen, I thought I asked for you two to remain in the Division House." Unohana started as she turned to see the two entering the meeting hall; she had expected them to still be recovering in bed rest.<p>

A light shrugged cursed the shorter woman's shoulders as she found her way into the room. "I thought that was more of a suggestion."

"Interesting hair style there, Captain Soifon."

"Interesting facial structure there, Captain Gin, here let me rearrange it for you."

He had to reached out and grab her arm as she made a move that wanted to make truth of her statement. "I apologize if it seems as though we disobeyed your orders, Captain Unohana; however, I'm sure everyone here shares the same interest in finding out what the hell happened out there."

It took a short momenet before a soft sigh of near defeat escaped her. "…You two have recovered quickly and I suppose this meeting won't be long enough to tire you out." she replied. "I do expect at least a full day of rest before I release you."

"I expect to return to my Division by tomorrow morning." Soifon started swiftly after the woman. "I've already missed enough days, and while I'd much rather try to avoid my Lieutenant as much as possible, my Division is in need of me. There will be plenty of time to rest later but until then, let's not waste time in this matter; I did not come all the way down here to discuss about the results of my injuries. I came here to talk about how the hell I got them."

"Yes well then, first things first, we should all agree that we were all aware of this mission and of your chosen departure; however, some details of the missions were kept from us." Ukitake started as he lightly cleared his throat. "We know about the rumors; we know that they were somewhere located in the mountain regions West of here but… no specifics were made on that. We're not entirely sure about the details on the location-"

"To be quite frank, you two were about ten miles off from where you should've been." Byakuya interrupted.

Soifon snorted lightly at the interrupted; sneering to herself as she turned to the dark-haired Captain. "How would you know?"

"Because Captain Kenpachi and I were assigned to be your back up team; we were the ones who were to go in after you should you be taking more time than necessary. Regardless, we left early in the schedule but perhaps you should be glad for that; we were the ones who located you and brought you back." he remarked quickly.

A light scoff left her this time as she leaned over towards the Ninth Captain. "We must've really been in shitty conditions." she muttered.

She might've spoken a bit louder than expected as the Sixth Division Captain seemed to glare at her. "You are aware that we basically saved your lives, right?"

"And you are aware that had I been conscious at the time, you would've been the last person I would have let touch me." she snapped back towards him. "What about our health conditions? What were they like?"

"You had your head split wide open." Kenpachi answered. "I could see the white of your skull."

"I bet it was."

"You both suffered multiple impalement wounds, minor burns, broken bones, ruptured organs and the list goes on." Unohana interrupted. "When you were brought to our Division, your stats were barely stable; I had my staff up all night making sure there was someone watching around the clock for any drop. There were days where we had to postpone surgeries so we could just do blood transfusions and make sure we didn't lose you. It was a chaotic situation that I like to think we handled appropriately."

"Well, we're still alive, so that counts for something." Tousen replied.

"Okay look, let's go back to this whole 'location' deal." Soifon started once more. "Where did you find us exactly?"

"Like I said before, you were ten miles off your destination point." Byakuya continued. "As well, the entire village that had been present was completely destroyed with even more bodies left behind- so I'm assuming that you failed your mission in-"

"You better hope that when I regain my memory back that it might prove you right; because if it proves you wrong and we did succeeded… I'm going to break open your skull for saying those words." she countered heavily. "As for the village, it's a tragedy but it's not the first case. Did you get any readings from the surrounding areas?"

"We barely had time to-"

"For the love of- alright look… we're going to have to go back to wherever the hell it was that we were and figure out if the area can give us any clues." she started.

"We can send a team there for investigation but I'm afraid you two won't be able to attend." Byakuya commented.

"And just why the hell not?"

"You'll only be slowing us down in your weakened forms; we can send a team out tonight and have them back by tomorrow night with answers."

"Just a minute." Tousen started; interrupting the Second Division Captain's would-be rant. "Okay, that's reasonable, I can understand that; the important thing about this is to make sure that Hollow is no longer present nor living. If you're planning on sending a team out, then go ahead and do so; however, if you think about sending out a second one, then I'm going to make a request to join. Revisiting the battlefield may help jog those memories of the battle."

"He proves a point." Ukitake agreed.

"And even if you deny us, we'll go regardless." Soifon quickly added.

"I must ask, even after the severity of your injuries, you remember nothing from this experience?" Aizen questioned carefully, as though making sure not to ignite another argument. "It almost seems hard to believe that after everything that you went through… there's nothing to tell from it."

"The memory loss is only temporary; it should be coming back to them in a few days or so." Unohana explained.

"Have you been able to recall anything from the battle?"

A rough sigh left her lips as she moved to rub one temple. "Not a damn thing that really proves any significance. I remember a few things from the travel and getting into that… village or whatever, but nothing after that. It's just this black mass where those memories are supposed to be."

"Yes well… until then, we should launch a full-scale investigation into this; we have to make sure that threat was taken out."

"It's been two weeks, have you heard anything else about it?" Tousen questioned.

"No, but several of the attacks went by for weeks without being reported so we shouldn't count the silence as being a good sign just yet." Byakuya remarked. "And to be honest, there's a high chance that you two did indeed fail your mission."

"One more word out of your mouth and I'll make my injuries look like a cake walk compared to what I'll do to you."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: A little bit lengthy but it's because I ended up combining two chapters into one because it just made more sense that way. Ended up with a lot of dialogue though.**

It felt like hours had already passed with little to no advancement on this situation.

Fingertips lightly massaged the space between her eyes as she tried to still the oncoming headache that throbbed at the back of her skull. At this point, she was barely even listening to the others talking- not that she really cared much for their words anyways.

"Wait-" Soifon interrupted as something suddenly seemed to stick out to her; it felt like every eye in the room shot towards her to wait and linger on her next words. "Where's my sword?"

There seemed to be an air of disappointment afterwards.

"We had them put away for now; don't worry, they're safe." Ukitake assured as a soft frown seemed to hint at his lips. "However… we haven't exactly had time to do the necessary repairs on them just yet."

"Repairs?" she repeated.

"Uh well… don't worry for yours, Captain Soifon, there were only a few minor burns on the binding around the hilt, maybe a scuff or two." he answered. "However, yours on the other hand, Captain Tousen, is… well to be frank, I'm surprised it didn't break during the travel back."

"How the hell did your sword manage to take that much damage?" Byakuya questioned.

"I don't know, I guess I just didn't see it." Tousen replied sharply; almost enjoying the slight irritated rise in the man's energy. "Where did you store them?"

"They're in one of the storage rooms in my Division; I thought they would be safer there until we could repair them." Ukitake answered.

"I think it would be best if those were returned to us."

"But the repairs-"

"This may sound a bit… ridiculous but I think I see where he's going with this." Soifon interrupted. "If we get our swords back, they may help 'jumpstart' our memory or something. Suzumebachi may know something about the battle that I can't remember and if she's not being a little bitch, she may tell me."

"She has a point." Ukitake agreed.

"I suppose we didn't really consider that your Zanpakutō spirits may have a better grasp on the situation than you do currently." Unohana nodded. "I see no harm in bringing them in-"

"Actually, I think it might be better if we tried this out in privacy." Soifon spoke; cutting off the woman. "And from where they are right now, as you said, they haven't been properly repaired so moving them may not be the best of choices. Just point us in the direction they're in and we'll find them."

**X**

There was no doubt that the finely decorated hilt had suffered from some kind of burn; the once beautiful material was frayed but not charred which gave her the impression that it wasn't heat that burned it. Maybe some kind of acid or something? The same substance that left the burns on her arms? Whatever it was, it had ruined the hilt which she supposed wasn't entirely too worrisome, after all it should be easy to repair. Still, she would've like to know what had caused such damage.

"You look like shit, Suzumebachi." she whispered to herself as fingers ran lightly down the smooth blade. "Tousen, what do you think can cause a burn pattern like this?" she called as she turned back to the other Captain; watching as he pulled his own sword from where it had been sealed in a glass case. The silver blade was cracked and splintered with chips of it broken away; the hilt itself was fractured with the decorative binding almost completely ripped off.

Fingertips traced down the once beautifully polished and well-sharpened blade; feeling every split and fracture along the way. He couldn't help but to feel guilty as he traced every crack and break in the once flawless metal. "Damn, Suzumushi… what happened to you?"

She glanced down at the small scuffs on her own blade before she slowly set it aside for now. "Suzumebachi isn't responding to me right now; I think she might be pissed off at me. Again. Is Suzumushi saying anything?"

"No… I don't think she's entirely up to a conversation right now."

A light frown curved her lips as her hands rested on her hips. "Well looks like it's just us and time then, which is going to be like an even slower version of torture."

Setting the sword back into its protective case, he closed the lid tightly and allowed a short, almost exhausted sigh. "This is going to be one long haul, isn't it?"

"Up until we figure out what the hell happened." she agreed with a short snort. "If it doesn't come back within the next few days, I'm going back to the scene; I don't know what to look for but there might be some form of residue of energy there, who knows it might help to kick start my memory or something."

"I think that would be best." he nodded. "Regardless of what Captain Byakuya says."

"He is such a-"

"Watch yourself."

She sneered slightly at the warning before she set the thoughts aside. "Can you imagine if he had been the one to have gone on that mission? Shit, we wouldn't have to worry about him anymore."

"Do we really have to have this conversation?" he questioned.

"Are you saying you wouldn't have enjoyed it if that had happened?"

"I never said that."

Shaking her head, she glanced back to where she had set Suzumebachi aside. "I guess we don't have any other reason to be here then, might as well let whoever the hell is repairing our swords get their job started. Although after two weeks, they still haven't found the time to do so? Something about that irritates me. We could've gotten information from them had they been healed in time but who knows anymore, they could be in the same shape as we are. Completely lost in this whole damn mess."

It was hard to ignore the irritation in her tone; every word was spoken more venomously than the last as her impatience at the entire situation was evident- as if it hadn't been noted before. Had it not been rather serious, it would've been almost humorous just to listen to her reactions to everything possible. "Yeah well, after an event like that, sometimes repairing a sword isn't entirely at the top of the list."

"You would think they would be able to dictate from our physical damage and the breakage of our weapons that-" she started; only stopping herself when she felt his hands come to rest on her slender shoulders.

"You are really getting yourself worked up over this." he remarked with a light chuckle.

"Pft, I am not." she denied; letting a small scowl frown her lips once more. She felt his rather warm hands move away for a moment before they came back to cup her face for a moment. The motion flushed across her cheeks in a light crimson hue before she felt the way he carefully brushed aside her dark bangs and just lightly traced the scar on her forehead. "You're still messed up about that, aren't you?"

"Even though I couldn't see it… it still tortured me to hear it; I could feel the way your energy kept reacting to it and I could hear every slice and the way it scraped against your skull. It wasn't a pretty experience. I'm sure when you remember it, you'll agree."

It took her a moment before she slowly let her control slip and allowed a soft chuckle to remove itself from her lips. "Yeah, we'll see about that… until then though, we should probably head back to Division Four before Captain Unohana gets impatient with us."

* * *

><p>Fingertips lightly traced the bright pink scar that had made itself home over her left breast; feeling the way the rough tissue seemed completely out of place when compared to the more tender flesh around it. It was almost an absent-mindedly thing to touch at the scars. Maybe she hoped that it would help refresh some of her memories.<p>

Maybe she wanted to remember the pain.

_Unsettled eyes struggled to even blink as she tried to regain her eyesight back; black spots clouded the edges as the collision with the nearest tree left her nearly immobilized with pain. Hands fumbled to find a steady placement against the bark as she forced herself away from the small crater she had created. Shaking her head, she listened to the piercing shriek from the Hollow and looked up in time to see him pull its attention away from her. The tiny, blade-like arms that littered it's open chest were snaked back in preparation for attack before they sprung forward towards him._

_He could barely give himself enough time or space to avoid every single strike. She watched as he slashed outward with his sword before one of the bladed arms caught up to him; it impaled itself through his forearm and continued on into his chest to pin the two together. He barely had time to forcibly rip himself free before the rest of the arms caught up. One of the blades embedded itself in through his left shin before it ripped upward and punctured the back of his knee; it jerked forward and pulled his leg with it. _

_His body hit the ground with a painful thud before the blades were on him once more._

_One of the arms relocated itself to bury into his left side; pinning part of him into the ground. A second one scraped into the thin flesh of his right hip and dug deep into the twist of tissue and muscle. Quick reflexes just barely managed to dodge a third blade that had been aiming for his head and instead cut through several of his dreads._

_Pushing herself into the battle, she drew her sword back in anticipation before letting it loose on the blades that redirected themselves towards her. She showed no mercy in severing and amputating any and all that came within sword reach of her. A quick uppercut left her vulnerable for a split second, but that was all it needed. It seemed like the Hollow had an infinite amount of these arms as two more erupted from the side and rushed towards her. The empty space between her ribs was invaded as one of the blades severed through the area. A second one went down before it curved back up and splintered through the soft tissue of her left breast; the sharpened end pierced through the bottom and ripped itself clear through the round top._

Words could not describe that kind of pain.

_The edge of her sword sliced through the limbs easily and she pushed herself off before any more could get to her; leaving the severed ends to remain caught in her flesh. _

**X**

The rush of the memory flooded out everything else that had preoccupied her mind up till that point. Hands pushed her body from the hospital bed as she practically raced to the room next to her; she wasn't entirely set on telling him just yet… part of her wanted to find that scar first. She almost broke down her own door in the rush before almost repeating the same method on his- not even bothering to knock to announce herself.

"Soifon-" he started as his attention was pulled from the small, leather-bound novel in hand. He had sensed her energy from the next room for awhile now before a slight jump in it hinted at her activity. He didn't know why she was suddenly here though, unless she wanted to talk but conversations weren't exactly her strong point.

There were better ways to approach the situation.

Somehow she always managed to pick the worst.

She probably should've gone around his bed but part of her preferred to go over it instead. The mattress squeaked with their combined weight as she tried to keep the memory relatively fresh in her mind to find that one scar. A majority of his torso had been bound tightly with bandages but she could probably find it regardless.

"Okay, you know what, I thought you were weird before but now you're just crossing that line." he interrupted as he tossed aside the book in hand to redirect his focus. The feel of her hands pressing down against his waist only seemed to strengthen his point. "Seriously, Soifon, get off me."

"No look, you know how you remembered my head getting split open- or whatever the hell you said happened?"

"Yeah, but I didn't exactly pull this kind of stunt on you." he reminded.

"That's not the point here, can you get over that?" she sighed in irritation.

"Can you get off of me?"

Shaking her head, she took a deep breath to try and calm herself before she snapped. "Look, I remember it hitting me into a tree and then you tried to distract it while I recovered. It stabbed you in the leg and then it pinned you into the ground by stabbing you in the side and the hip; it was trying to kill you so I jumped in to help. That thing… whatever it was, was fast and managed to nail me in the ribs and… stabbed through my breast."

"That had to hurt."

"That's not the point here!"

He could detect the high irritation in her voice now and the sudden radiation of her energy. "Look, okay, calm down. Do you know what it looked like?"

"I… I don't remember everything about it; I know it had multiple appendages, probably hundreds of them and they were like individual swords. That's how we had so many impalement injuries, that's how we lost so much blood. I don't know how the hell that thing could move so fast though…"

"Is there anything else?"

"Between you knowing it ripped my head open and me remembering how it impaled you, no. It's not a lot to work off of but I guess it's something."

"Hell, it's a lot more than before." he shrugged. "Now, do you mind getting off me now?"

"… Do you think we killed it?"

"Between our physical damages and the damages of our swords, we sure as hell better have."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews so far guys! I've been working on some future chapters and there will be some romance involved, rest assured, I just have to work up to that point.**

As much as she just loved sitting around and doing nothing, it was purely refreshing to finally get back to her Division- which, by the way, looked like no one had maintained it the least bit during her absence. She supposed she shouldn't have been surprised by it in the least bit, after all look at the fatass who had been in charge while she was out.

"Uh, Captain Soifon! You're back early."

She rolled her eyes as she pushed aside her Division door, only to be greeted by that bumbling idiot. "Officer Ōmaeda, ask me if I missed you."

He stood there frozen for a moment; clearly caught off-guard by the remark. "Uh… did you miss me?"

"No. Not in the slightest bit. In fact, that was a stupid question to ask." she replied as she moved past him and through the opening lobby; wanting nothing more than to lock herself away in her office, which was no doubt filled with all sorts of papers. "And if I had my sword with me, I would've probably poisoned you with it. Until then though, I suppose I'll just have to make due with whatever I can find around me. I'll be in my office, don't disturb me or so Gods help you."

Following the winding turns of the corridors, she didn't bother to count the doors on either sides of her; she didn't bother to count the steps it took to get there; she didn't even bother to acknowledge the Division members who passed by her. The silver plate on the door way read her name but she didn't even glance to it. The quicker the door could close behind her, the better.

Sure enough, there was her desk- barely seen under the mess of papers that spread like a plague across it.

Shaking her head, she picked up the few pieces that had fallen to the floor before she shifted through the first few piles; taking notes of different notices and late calls for meetings. All these papers were outdated, they were all passed out for those two weeks she was out; why the hell did anyone even bother to deliver these to her office? Cursing under her breath, she tossed aside worthless papers into her trash bin nearby and kept the few that actually mattered to her.

Fingers carefully picked up a piece to toss but she froze the moment it almost left her grasp. The heading read something about a mission; the details were almost blurred together as she skimmed through the beginning paragraph. It was the order that was issued to her… talking about the mission.

"_I'm glad we could meet on such short notice, Captain Soifon; this matter was urge and I didn't believe it could wait any longer."_

_She nodded with his words. "It's of no inconvenience, Captain Yamamoto; to be honest, I'm curious as to what this matter is about and why you would ask to speak to me about it."_

_A long sigh left the aging Captain. "There's been some rumors lately about attacks going off in the mountains in the West of here; normally we wouldn't deal with such but… the rumors began to say that it's a Hollow."_

_"A hollow?" she repeated after him. "But they don't venture out that far; they never have."_

_"It's been said that there's something different about this one."_

_She frowned slightly and moved to cross her arms over her chest. "Hasn't anyone been able to get a definite look at it? We can't do much about rumors."_

_"That's just it, no one who's seen it has actually lived to talk about it." he replied. "We've sent out a few scouting teams to search for something; they've all returned with nothing. But the attacks continue. So far it's only struck the mountain villages but it's completely decimated them; no survivors."_

_"Sounds like this thing's been a pain in the ass recently."_

_"Indeed it has been. I wanted to personally ask you to take on this mission; you're the one who heads security and you've got the entire Special Ops force behind you, not to mention you're a skilled fighter. I think you may be the only who can actually catch and kill this thing. No mercy."_

_It was a bit of an honor, and maybe an ego boost, to have the First Division Captain openly recommend her for such a task; one that involved one of her more favorite activities. Killing. "I can assure you, when I find this thing, I will kill it; no hesitation."_

_"Good, that's what I wanted to hear."_

She set the paper aside before she continued her search through the different stacks; looking for anything else that might've struck out as being important. It mostly lead to her tossing away more things and cleaning up a majority of her desk in the process. But… it also helped her find just one more piece of the puzzle. It was another note from Captain Yamamoto; it was dated the same day the mission had started, it had to have been delivered that morning… she still didn't remember much of it though. It was basically another report on the mission with given instructions about the locations. From reading it, it didn't seem like the place was that far away, maybe a day or so of traveling… it made her wonder why the damn thing hadn't been detected sooner.

She almost tossed it aside when she was done before one more line stuck out to her.

"_While I must say that your request for Captain Tousen to accompany you is surprising, I believe it would be for the greater good. At least we can have two personnel out in the field; he's superior sense of detecting energy should assist you greatly."_

Request?

Why the hell would she put in a request for him to be her partner?

Why the hell would she think she needed a partner for that mission? Well, given the aftermath of it, she supposed it was for the greater good but… before she knew the ending, why would she drag him into this? What provoked her?

Breaking a habit was something she did very little of… she was a solitary fighter; people just got in her way and frankly to say, she hated that more than anything. Now, he was a capable fighter and he knew well to stay out of her way but something about it just seemed to scream something else. Something else provoked her to request for his assistance.

It felt like her memory wasn't just denying her those two weeks and one day; it was completely erasing anything that could have lead up to that mission.

She needed to talk to him again.

He was probably at his own Division getting things back under control but damnit, this was far more important.

From what he could tell, things seemed to be in order and almost resembled the way he had left it. A few things were out of place here or there but it was really hardly worth mentioning. He was just glad to finally be back in the comfort of his own Division again.

He took note of approaching energy and chuckled lightly to himself. "Officer Hisagi, it's nice to see you took care of the place in my absence."

The black-haired Lieutenant walked into the open lobby at the words; stopping as the remark caught him off-guard momentarily. "I didn't think you would be released so soon."

"I didn't either but Captain Soifon put up a big fuss about it so I think Captain Unohana just wanted to get her out of her hair." he replied. "Has anything important gone by while I was gone?"

"Uh, no, just a few notices that are outdated now; a few meetings were called but Captain Komamura said they weren't much to worry for… most of them centered around both you and Captain Soifon anyways."

He nodded and made a note to visit Captain Komamura later on in the day when the time permitted it. "I can't say that's really all too surprising; being out for two weeks was probably not as entertaining as everyone made it out to be. In fact, it was kind of like being in hell without actually realizing you're in it."

"Do you remember anything else about that mission?" Hisagi questioned.

"A few bits and pieces but nothing important for now." he answered. "Captain Soifon was able to remember how I obtained a few scars here or there but it doesn't explain much of anything… I try not to worry with it right now; it'll come to me eventually. Until then though, I'm sure I have a lot of work to catch up on."

"I tried to keep a lot of the paperwork filed and organized as best I could, but the last few days had gotten a little lazy."

"Don't worry about it, I'll take over from here again; I'll need something to keep me preoccupied over these next few days anyways. There's this sense of hope that if I don't focus on this whole matter, it'll come back to me more quickly." he explained as he slowly started towards his office. "Not sure if it'll work but it gives me an excuse not to think on this matter for awhile."

The corridors were as they had always been but after quite a period of absence from the Division house, he had almost doubted himself in going the correct way. It was quiet, which was usual as most of the other Division members kept to themselves during this part of the day; the occasional radiation of energy told that a few of them were out in the training fields.

Pushing aside his office door, he paused for a moment as something else seemed to throw him off for a moment.

"I was cursing whoever said that you had to accompany me on that mission."

He waited a moment before a long sigh escaped him. "Soifon, am I ever going to be able to avoid you? And how the hell did you get here so quickly?"

She frowned and pushed herself off from where she had made his desk her own chair. "I realized the person I should've been cursing was myself."

"… What are you talking about?"

"I put in a request to have you join me on that mission; I found a note Captain Yamamoto sent me the morning of and it says that he was surprised I would make such a demand." she explained. "I don't know why I would do that though."

"Well the fact that you don't know means you didn't ask for me to come along for help." he started. "Which… makes me think you asked me for another reason."

"What kind of reason would make you want to accompany me as a partner?" she questioned as she crossed her arms and stared back at him.

He waited a moment before he shook his head. "I don't know. Looking at your long rap sheet of partner accidents, it couldn't have been easy to convince me to go with you… Did something happen before hand?"

"Shit, if I knew that, I could've figured out this whole mess by myself."

"Well at least you're modest about it." he replied sarcastically.

She let out an aggravated sigh and started to walk towards him about the same time he moved to go around her. Fingers caught the loose folds of his uniform sleeve quickly to stop him in his tracks. "I'm beginning to think that… our injuries aren't the only thing we need to figure out."

He stopped in her grasp before he turned to face her. "You mean there's something else aside from trying to figure out our injuries, what the hell caused them, and if that Hollow is even dead? What else would there be?"

"Oh don't be so stupid." she scoffed. "You know well what I mean."

"Soifon, I… things were supposed to be over between us…"


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: So it's just my interpretation of Soifon and I can see her openly cussing out a few times; if that doesn't seem like her character to you, I apologize but again, this is just my own interpretation that I have fun with. Anyways, thanks for the reviews guys! I'm having a fun time typing this and every chapter is getting better for me. **

_Things were supposed to be over between us…_

She tightened her grip for a moment before she slowly let it go; returning her hand to her hip for the moment. She didn't know how to react exactly, but damnit she wanted to. "… Do you think that's why I brought you along? Because I had some crack-addict idea that going away on a mission like that was suppose to repair us?"

Shit.

He struggled to find an appropriate answer only to grasp at nothing in the process. "I don't know… maybe."

"Then maybe I should be glad I can't remember anything from it." she chuckled bitterly. "Is this really what I've come down to? Was I really that desperate to pull some kind of… stunt like that? I must've been completely out of my mind. To be honest, I'm kind of disappointed I couldn't think of something better."

"Look, you would've been dead by yourself; that much I'm certain on." he started. "Regardless of why you asked me or what even happened during that mission, I'm just… I'm glad you did. If you had died, no one would've known how; no one would've known who or what the hell did it. I don't know how the society would've been able to function had that happened; I don't know if I could've."

She frowned once more with a light shake of her head. "During that mission, do you think we fixed it?"

"That's a bit of a trick question."

"Why?"

"Because… I can't exactly tell if I'm acting like this towards you out of concern or something else." he answered. "It's difficult to decipher at this moment."

"I got that same feeling." she nodded slowly. "Right now, maybe it would be best if it just remained as concerned."

He felt the slight flair in her energy and the sound of her footsteps receding as she forced herself out of the room. He should've tried to stop her or at least have gone after her… but instead, he just stood there and waited for her energy to eventually leave his range. There were other matters that had to be taken care of first, for now they would just have to go on the back burner.

"Captain Tousen?"

The voice caught him off-guard momentarily before he turned his attention to the new presence nearby. He must've been really preoccupied with her… he didn't even notice someone else approach him. "Ah, Captain Komamura, I apologize for the late notice; I was preoccupied with something."

"Would it have anything to do with Captain Soifon?"

"… Possibly but it's really nothing of concern; we were just discussing a few things."

"Did she have anything new to say?"

He waited a moment before answering. "No, not really. She just found some new papers and notices about that mission; she had been trying to find some kind of paperwork about it for awhile now. She said something about how apparently she put in the request for me to accompany her, which is odd considering she does horrible with partners."

"That is a rather… strange occurrence but perhaps she just wished for your assistance on the matter?"

"I don't know… it's just… nothing's fitting together at the moment and it's just frustrating the hell out of us." he sighed. "We're still trying to get back on our feet after this whole thing and we're not exactly putting a lot of effort into it at the moment."

"There's a lot of stress in the whole matter and with everyone pressing to get more details out of it, it can't be easy for either you or Captain Soifon to concentrate on getting matters under control." Komamura started; his ears slightly pinned back.

"I try to convince myself that but it always just comes off sounding like an excuse instead. Regardless though, there's not much we can do about it now."

* * *

><p>Please, she was more concerned about the mission than anything else.<p>

She supposed it would be too long of a wait to see when that 'scouting party' Captain Byakuya sent off was going to return; he said something about them returning by tonight but that's really only if he went through with the whole thing. There were answers she wanted now and at the moment, she had to know if that thing was dead. A greater part of her said yes for the sheer fact that had the thing lived… they wouldn't still be here; a Hollow wouldn't just leave a job half finished and she sure as hell wouldn't have either.

The next time Captain Byakuya suggested that she left a mission half-completed, she was going to break his face.

"Captain Soifon!"

She paused only slightly at the shout before she glanced over to see who had let out the call; that would determine if she really gave them her full attention or not. The white-haired Captain who hurried over in her direction deserved at least a little bit of her pity- especially considering he was carrying a solid case in one arm. "Captain Ukitake." she nodded in acknowledgement.

"I'm glad I managed to run into you out here." he started; taking a moment to catch his breath. "The repairs on your sword are complete; luckily, the damages weren't too hazardous so it was easy to mend it back to it's former self. Of course, the hilt was repaired as much as we could get it, feel free to remodel it yourself though."

She watched as he held the case out for her; fingers gently unclipped the front and lifted the heavy lid. Her sword looked exactly as it did before the mission as she almost seemed to cradle it against her fingertips. "Thank you, I'm sure Suzumebachi is just as appreciative." she started as she ran her hand down the sleek blade. "How are the repairs on Captain Tousen's sword going?"

"Ah well… they're proving to be difficult but we have our best people working on it." he answered. "It took some heavy damage during the battle which… is a little frightening. A Hollow that could do that much damage to a sword and put out two Captains is… well it just doesn't sound right; it sounds like there's more to it."

"Worry not, Captain Ukitake, I'm sure the threat is already under and if not, well the poor bastard probably wishes it had been killed." she remarked. "Now then, if you'll excuse me, I have a lot of business to attend to today. Thank you once more though for your efforts."

"It's nothing, after all it seems as though you went through far more than repairing your sword could pay back for."

"We'll know soon enough." she commented before she continued on her way back to her Division; carefully sliding her sword back into the empty sheath at her side. She had lost her last one but thankfully, she had a replacement sheath in her office; the empty weight at her side had been a nuisance but fingertips found some comfort as they played on the curved hilt.

Entering her Division House once more, she started straight to her office for a sense of peace and quiet once more.

"_It's about time you got your stupid ass awake."_

The voice caught her off-guard momentarily as she slid her office door closed behind her; it took her a moment before a sharp frown cursed her lips. "Shut it, Suzumebachi and just tell me what I want to know."

A light scoff echoed from the spirit as her sword almost seemed to rattle at her side. _"Oh, here's the great and all mighty Second Captain after she got her ass kicked in battle by a Hollow."_

If throwing her sword against the wall would've affected the spirit any, she would've done it. "Is that so? Well looks like you weren't all that too great either."

"_You say that like it's my fault that damn thing's skin distilled my poison."_

She paused just a few feet from her desk. "Wait… what?"

"… _You don't remember anything?"_

"If I remembered it, do you think I would've asked you to repeat something?" she snapped.

The slight flare from her sword said that the spirit didn't seem to appreciate her tone. _"Yeah, you tried to poison the damn thing and it just kept on going; after a few attempts, you somehow managed to smarten up and figure out that it wasn't going to work. I don't know how the hell the thing managed to dodge not only the poison but evade our grasp just the same…"_

Pulling the sword out once more, she laid it to rest on her desk before she slowly rested back in her seat. Fingertips lightly tapping on the stainless metal before they moved to the repaired hilt. The decorative coloring was off and the design was messed up in a few places but shit, she supposed she could deal with it compared to what it had looked like. "What happened?"

"_Oh, let me tell you." _Suzumebachi snapped lightly. _"You know, it's all nice that you took up that mission and all… but next time, leave your little 'boyfriend' at home. I mean, I know I told you to go out and get one but seriously… separate business and pleasure." _

"Tsk, boyfriend? What the hell are you talking about?" Soifon questioned with a sharp click of her tongue.

A long, colorful hum left the spirit as her sword rattled lightly once more. "_Please, don't tell me you don't remember what happened between you two either?"_

"You mean asides the fact that we got our asses handed to us."

"_No, that happened between you two and that Hollow; I'm talking about just the two of you."_

She narrowed her eyes at the spirit's words and aggravated tone- as though they weren't sharing the same tone regardless. "Just shut up alright and tell me what the fuck happened."

"… _Shit, you really don't remember… how the hell did you forget?"_

She was going to snap the damn blade in half.

"_No need to get violent." _Suzumebachi muttered with a few more selective words on the side. _"I hate to break it to you but you weren't just mad at the Hollow for killing all those people… let's just say, that Hollow might've killed something else for you too."_

She drew in a long breath before she pushed herself from her desk and grabbed the hilt of the sword; heading out of the room, she stabbed the sword into one of the walls just before leaving. "You know what, when you feel like giving me straight answers, I'll come back for you; until then, you're just going to have to wait until I feel like returning."

"_Really? You're just going to- could you at least fix that awful decorating job? It feels like I'm indecently dressed."_

"Deal with it." she called back to the sword before she pulled the door closed once again. She thought she could just sit down and deal with work but right now… hell, she just wanted to relax in her bedroom and pretend none of this was going on. She rarely wasted time like that but fuck it, she had an excuse and if anyone wanted to oppose her of it right now, they had another painful option coming to them.

It gave her a chance to try and erase whatever the hell Suzumebachi had told her.

… Nothing went on between them.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews! **

"… Is something bothering you?"

He barely heard the question from underneath the pile of other ones that littered and cluttered his mind at the moment. "No, I'm fine for now."

The Seventh Division Captain pinned his ears back slightly as he looked around at their surroundings. For once the temperatures had cooled down enough to enjoy a walk without the heat making it unbearable for him; not to mention, there was a sense of ease and calmness now that everyone had stopped with their panicking. "You're a horrible liar."

"I wasn't really trying but thanks for the heads up anyways."

"Still upset about the mission?"

"I wouldn't use 'upset'… and I wouldn't say it was for the mission either." he started; following the much taller Captain as the two turned down another pathway that traveled around the different Division Houses. "There's a lot more to the mission than I had original anticipated for, so it's caught me off-guard recently."

"Does this have anything to do with Captain Soifon?"

"As scary as it is, I think it might."

"… Well to be honest, you two were acting weird towards one another just before that mission…"

He paused for a moment at the words and listened as the other Captain kept walking instead. "What do you mean?"

A heavy sigh left the Wolf-life Captain. "Hard to say, to be honest. Usually you two were at each other's throats but the few days before hand, it was like you hardly even acknowledged once another. Now, regardless, some of us took that as a sign of peace but… something just didn't sit well with it. We assumed when you both left for that mission, only one of you were going to come back; we figured you'd end up trying to kill each other out there."

"I remember wanting to strangle her a few times." he admitted with a light shrug. "I just… it's weird; something happened out there and since we can't remember what it was… it's making things difficult for us now."

"… What are you talking about?"

"Captain Soifon and I-"

"Captain Komamura! Captain Tousen!"

The two broke away from their conversation at the call and watched as the red-headed, Sixth Division Lieutenant hurried over to them. "Captain Byakuya wanted me to inform you that the scouting team returned; there were absolutely no traces to be found. The village is still in ruins but there isn't even a hint that a Hollow was even present there."

"How were they able to return so quickly? Captain Byakuya said they wouldn't be able to return till later this evening." Komamura questioned.

"They somehow managed to arrive there at dawn and spent most of this morning investigating; they just arrived a few moments ago. I'm guessing the place isn't too far from here." Renji shrugged. "Which is odd, seeing as if it was so close, why would the damn thing kept it's distance from here?"

"You'd be surprised at how smart they get sometimes." Tousen replied. "Have you told anyone else about this?"

"Not yet, you were the first two that I saw after Captain Byakuya."

"Alright… I'm going to go ahead and inform Captain Soifon about this finding; I'll see what her take on it is." he nodded. "I apologize, Komamura, but I'll have to cut this walk short for the meantime. If you'll excuse me."

"Don't worry about me, I believe your matters with Captain Soifon are more important."

* * *

><p>"Captain Soifon! There's a visitor for you!"<p>

She groaned and pushed herself from her bed at the voice; of course, more and more distractions to ruin her moments to herself. Getting to her feet, she quickly reevaluated her appearance before she headed out of the prison cell of a bedroom. Now where the hell was her Lieutenant yelling from? And why the hell did he feel the need to yell?

"You're interrupting my schedule so this better be good." she remarked as she finished her way down the corridor and into the open lobby; pausing slightly as she took note of the darker-toned Captain waiting for her. "Oh, this had better be good indeed. I just finished talking to you… less than an hour ago, what else is there to talk about?"

"The scouting party returned; they didn't find any evidence."

"… On second thought, let's speak in my office." she started before she turned to her Lieutenant. "Stop wasting space and go do something worth your time for once." She watched as the man took off about as quick as her words before she ushered for the other Captain to follow her back down the corridor. "Well can't say that I'm surprised by the news. We killed it after all, well… I killed it to be more specific."

"Did you remember that?" he questioned.

"Hmm… no, not exactly. Suzumebachi told me." Soifon answered as she held out one hand when they reached her office and pushed the door aside. "Speaking of, has someone decided to calm themselves down now?" she muttered as she tore the blade from where it had been impaled into the wall.

"_Shut up bit- oh, really? You guys decided you didn't have enough 'alone' time back out in those-"_

"Stopping saying that."

"Saying what?" Tousen questioned.

"Ugh, nothing, I wasn't talking to you. Suzumebachi is just rattling off on a senseless matter at the moment." she muttered. "She has been rather… 'chatty' since she was returned to me; it was welcoming at first but now someone has worn out her welcome."

"_I hate you."_

He only shook his head and closed her office door behind him. "How did you manage to kill it?"

"Yeah Suzumebachi, how did I kill it?" she questioned as she set the sword on her desk again.

"_Pft, more like how did I kill it. And if you're curious as to how I killed it, I poisoned it from the inside and let it rot all the way to the outside." _

"The Hollow's outer skin was able to distill my poison the moment of impact, so it was useless during battle." she started. "However… somewhere towards the end of the battle, I managed to poison it from the inside out. Don't ask me how because I don't faintly recall and neither does Suzumebachi but… it's something. It at least backs up the fact that the damn thing is dead and there's no need to worry about it anymore; of course, that just leaves the rest of it with a rather pointless meaning."

"Not entirely… if this thing was able to distill your poison… it just sounds suspicious." he started. "Something about it isn't settling right. I mean, how does a simple Hollow manage to take out numerous villages and knock the hell out of the both of us?"

She gave it a moment of thought before she slowly nodded in agreement. "True, you made a point. Suzumebachi also mentioned that it was able to outpace me, which is impossible for a Hollow of that low of level… I don't think we were dealing with just a normal one of those heartless bastards. It seemed more advanced for something of its level or at least from what I recall and even just looking back on those injuries; a normal Hollow couldn't have possibly been able to inflict that kind of damage on us. And those villages… one of them should've been able to wipe it out."

"My point exactly."

"_Hey, is Suzumushi here? I want to discuss some things with her."_

"At least the damn thing's dead and if Captain Byakuya so much as wishes to debate otherwise, I'll poison him next." Soifon remarked; purposely ignoring the question of her Zanpakutō. "… I'm beginning to give more thought to that whole 'revisiting' idea of yours; I think we should go through with it soon."

He nodded back to her. "I was thinking the same."

"The more questions there are, the less answers there seem to be."

"_I know you heard me! Stop talking to your boyfriend and answer me!"_

A long groan left her lips as she moved one hand to slightly rub at her temples. "Captain Ukitake told me they were still doing repairs on your sword; have you heard any news about it?"

"Not as of recently. Why?"

"No reason in particular aside from Suzumebachi being a pain in my ass about the whole matter." she answered before she shrugged it aside. "Now then, if there's nothing else for us to discuss here, then I have other things to attend to- mostly me cursing at my Lieutenant but nonetheless, it's on my schedule."

"Actually there is one more thing I'd like to discuss with you."

"… No thanks." she answered abruptly as she started on her way back out. "In fact, I have a lot of training I need to catch up on; this body is weakened and I cannot allow for it to remain as such. You found your way in; you can find your way back out."

He waited till he had felt her pass by him before he reached out and managed to catch the remaining gold ring at the end of her single braid.

She paused as a slight tug hinted at the sudden capture. "Captain Tousen, you have three seconds to release me."

"Start counting, Captain Soifon."


	9. Chapter 9

"What more is there to discuss? I thought we both settled it rather bluntly; there should be no questions left on the matter."

"We pushed it aside. There was no discussion."

"There shouldn't be one regardless."

An undisputed sigh left him as he left the gold ring slide from his grasp. "So then you're completely content with living like this?"

"_Fuck no."_

She mentally cursed back at the spirit as she paused in the open doorway. His question lingered about as her attention to every word slowly drifted in and out. Part of her questioned what exactly she would be living with; the other half already knew the answer and knew it well. "We can discuss this matter when I'm through training."

"Or we can discuss it while you're training; you may not be a 'partner' styled person, but you always enjoyed sparring with someone." he remarked.

She thought on the offer for a bit before a soft nod came forth. "Try to keep up."

* * *

><p>"Nothing?"<p>

"Not a trace."

A self-defeated sigh left the pale-skinned Captain as he only shook his head in response. "But… so that means it has to be dead right? If there were no traces of energy and the bodies practically disintegrate upon defeat…"

"But what if it was able to control its energy enough to wipe out all traces? It's been two weeks but still… there should've been some evidence left; at least in the buildings or wherever the battle took place." Byakuya replied as he crossed his arms over his chest. "After all, there has to be something different about this Hollow. If it was able to evade our grasps for this long, knock out countless villages, rampage across the mountainsides and nearly bring two of our Captains to their deaths… something's not settling correctly with this. This wouldn't be results from a lower class Hollow."

"If it had been from a higher class we would've been well aware of it; it would've been drawn to the city." Unohana reminded as she carefully realigned the reports that had only mildly cluttered her desk at this point. "The massive collection of energy here would've been like a beacon to it's senses. It wouldn't have been able to resist. The fact that it did and managed to escape all sightings from our scouts… it says something."

Ukitake looked from between the two black-haired Captains before he settled on the Fourth Division woman. "Are you saying… there was something dramatically different about this one? Like someone… experimented on it?"

"I don't want to jump to conclusions or risk getting the idea ridiculed just yet but we shouldn't rule it out just yet." She nodded. "Now, I don't know who would go to such a length to do so but… the recent attacks on the city have been relatively different; each one doing just a bit more damage than the last. The attacks are becoming a bit more scarce now but they're becoming more resistant to our attacks. Now, on our level, they're easy; to the lower members and civilians… we lost a few in the raid a couple of months ago. Again, I don't want to push the idea of it just yet but it's something to think on."

"Then perhaps we should've been able to take note of these changes sooner." Byakuya remarked.

"… Regardless, let's not panic over the matter just yet." Ukitake started. "Let's wait for the results of this battle and make our decision them. Like Captain Unohana said… we don't want to jump to conclusions just yet."

"Have you informed the other Captains of the news?" Unohana questioned.

"I have my Lieutenant doing that as we speak."

"Good. Now then, I believe it may be in order to bring some of this up with Captain Yamamoto; after all, I'm sure he's waiting for this kind of news… it may be safe to share our thoughts with him, but again I may hold back on it until we have a bit more evidence on the matter."

"Until then… I believe it would be in good order for both Captain Soifon and Captain Tousen to return to the former battlefield; they may be able to open up a lot more information on this case." Ukitake nodded. "Perhaps you and Captain Kenpachi can tag along with them; you are aware of what the area looked like and are familiar with how their injuries were."

"Yes I suppose that would suit." he remarked, almost at a muttered tone. "I will speak to Captain Kenpachi about this matter and we'll… debate over what day to plan for."

"I know how busy your schedule is most days; it would be appreciative if you could take the time out for a quick trip."

"I will see to it."

* * *

><p>She had to admit, it was a bit… distracting to have him out on the training field with her. She had always prided herself on paying attention to quick details and keeping a clear head during battle performance; however, it seemed as though her ability to pay attention to details was what proved to be a distraction.<p>

She never trained in her full uniform and instead had always opted for her Special Ops one instead. It allowed for quicker movement and sharper reflexes; there was little material to drag her down or give her away. As well, the openness of the uniform helped to keep her body cool and her skin mostly dry.

Dark eyes gave her away as she watched him effortlessly toss aside pieces of his uniform.

The white of his jacket was paired with the black of his uniform top as he set them aside for later retrieval. The sudden strip revealed the sleeveless variance underneath, as well it seemed to bring attention to his shapely arms and muscular biceps. She almost wanted to curse at the scars that plagued his dark skin.

There was little room for conversation.

Little room for second thoughts.

This was going to be more than just training.

Their so-needed discussion was going to be the punching bag of it all.

Her two-week coma had planted some resistance in her body but as soon as she put herself back into the motion of things… it began to obey her once more. She was faster than him; she knew the terrain better than him; overall… she determined herself to be better than him. Her body moved at such a speed there was little noise for him to follow. Her energy was cut to the point of moving too fast to even leave a lingering trail.

Despite his 'disability' she wasn't going to go easy on him.

He knew from the moment he stepped out into the Second Division training field, this wasn't going to be easy to do. In fact, despite what had been said before, there was doubt that there was even going to be much of a discussion to do. Then again, he had braced himself for that. She wasn't a conversation type and discussions weren't entirely her strong point either. As long as she could physically set herself free, that was her talk. However this 'training' battle ended… well it sure as hell was going to be a huge difference compared to how it started. Good or bad.

It was a relentless twist of physical strikes and mental games.

Whenever he caught the hint of her energy or the slight clip of her footsteps, he knew she was just giving herself away. She was looking for him to make a mistake; she had already drawn him into that trap several times before he educated himself on it. Not to say that she was winning this flawlessly. There was a sense of satisfaction when he felt his strikes land sharply on her body; it wasn't done so in revenge or otherwise… in fact, they both seemed to merely laugh off the hits.

A slight disperse of energy caught his attention before he turned in enough time to catch her leg just before it made contact with his shoulder-blades. A quick half-turn and a released grip had her swinging to the other side of the small field.

She felt the slight change in air as her body went from being in offensive velocity to defenseless flight. Her senses were quick to catch on though as she rolled through the air before she landed more gracefully on the ground. Eyes barely had time to flare up to pinpoint his location before he was on her once more.

There was another sense of defenselessness as his body made hard contact with her own and drove the two of them into the ground.

Skilled battling turned into minor scuffling now as they seemed more in tuned to wrestling with one another than anything else; fingers pressed into flesh and half-tangled in hair to give off the impression of another form of activity.

She didn't even know how it started.

And neither did he.

It seemed like it was a mix of interest between the both of them.

Fingers curled against constricting fabric and seemed desperate for more contact against heated flesh. She couldn't remember the last time her fingers were tangled so tightly in his hair; the last time his body was pressed so tightly against her own. There was a sense of painful lust and unforgiving compassion that stirred against her tired nerves; each one giving into the solid compressions of his fingertips against her body. She herself was not far from temptation though. Rough desires pulled away at the conflicting material to grasp harshly at the warm flesh that only seemed to beckon to her; fingers tracing and giving in to every inch that tortured her. She could feel the thick roughness of his scars where they plagued the once smooth skin that had belonged to her and her only. Stories that would have accompanied each mark were absent but she cared little for that information at the moment. All she cared for was how they felt against her skin and the way every touch seemed to ease a little more from him.

It was absolutely antagonizing and alluring all in one.

Frightening almost.

There was a feeling of bringing forth a lost sense.

The impression his lips left on her own; the way everything else seemed to melt away with the way her tongue riled his.

In the sudden, thoughtless action, they both seemed to discard the humanistic survival on oxygen; each of them seemingly more willing to suffocate in the addicting grasp than face the separation that would follow. Because then, more things would follow and this moment would be lost.

But things never wanted to go their way, did they?

Heavy gasps infected the air between them as the absence of his lips already seemed to chill hers.

"What the hell just happened?"

A light chuckle escaped him at the sound of her question. "That uh… may or may not have been our discussion on this matter."

"… Well we weren't really all that good at expressing ourselves- not with words anyways." she replied as she moved one hand to brush aside her annoying bangs; pausing for a moment as a sense of familiarity seemed to wash over her. "You know… I think I remember something from that mission…"


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Glad to see that the last chapter went over well, I was worried for a moment that it would be more of a stumbling stone really. This one pushes the character limit just a bit more but hopefully I stayed within the boundaries of proper reactions. Thanks for the reviews!**

"_Let's face it… this doesn't seem like it's going to work…"_

"_I think we can both agree on that and… we can both agree it's because of our inability to let people go."_

_She narrowed her eyes at the words and watched as he draped a towel over the back of his neck; allowing for the light-beige ends to fall over his shoulders. One hand moved to brush aside his hair as he seated himself on the corner of the only bed in the room. She found herself almost sickeningly distracted by the lack of an uniform top on his body, which only showcased his fairly built form. "Given no other reasons, I suppose that is the most likely one."_

"_And… I don't think either of us are really putting forth the effort for this." he continued slowly; trying to keep track of his words as the conversation only became more and more difficult. "I don't think we're ready to move on."_

"_It's been years."_

"_It has but do you really see either of us making a move to change that?"_

_Silence caught up to her once more as she tried to set her focus on something on the other side of the room; looking over the small lodging room that provided very little to look at. She was never one for speaking out loud about these things but… so much had changed between them, it was more like complete Armageddon on her nerves. It was a difficult time, difficult situation and the location did little to help, although she rather enjoyed the clear isolation from the other Captains. It was one of the reasons she asked him to accompany her. So they could sit in silence like this and try to pretend things weren't as bad as they really were. "… Is this it then?"_

"_It doesn't have to be…"_

"_So what? We're just supposed to be miserable together?"_

_A long sigh escaped him as he touched briefly at the empty space between his eyes. There was no denying that they were both just far too hard-headed and difficult to accept anything less; they were just making things even more complicated for themselves while still trying to assume that nothing was wrong. He held his hand out to her and waited for her reaction; she carried a sense of hesitation with her before slowly her fingertips moved to brush his skin. It was a smooth motion as he pulled her in and she seemed to give in._

_For a moment, every heated argument from before, every slur of insults, every thought of doubt dissipated. All they had left… was who they were now._

_What they were now._

"_I thought I loved you…"_

**X**

"That whole mission was a fucking waste of time, wasn't it?"

"I wouldn't say the whole thing was…"

She brushed her hands through her hair once more, this time holding her bangs away from her face for a moment. The training field felt more empty, more barren now. Their abrupt training session dissolved into this small talk of words and short memories. Resting her arms on her partly bent knees, she leaned forward slightly and listened to the satisfying pop of her back. "Do you think that's why we got our asses kicked so hard? Because we weren't focused on the main objective?"

"To be honest with you… I think it may be one of the reasons why we're still alive instead." he started; now seated beside her when their earlier… 'confrontation' dissipated. "I think we were both too stubborn to let the other one die."

"Sounds about right." she slowly nodded. "Also sounds ridiculous and stupid."

"I figured you would say something like that."

"… Alright, well it clears up one mystery." she remarked. "Now onto the next ones."

"Actually, I've been trying to go over some things myself and I just wanted to run this one idea by you." he replied. "You had burns on your arms right?"

"Yeah, they were minor but they weren't cause by a fire of any sort; it may have been from the same substance that burned my sword."

He nodded after her before he continued. "It's just… I had matching burns on my hands but they weren't as severe as yours; it just looked like it might've been a contact injury."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, it's just… you were probably covered in this stuff but your arms were hit with the highest concentration; maybe I… tried to help you but when I grabbed you by the arms, the substance passed on and created that kind of contact burn."

"… Yeah, I guess that would make sense, in which case it was probably your own fault for doing that."

"Please, I probably had to do it to save your sorry ass."

She scoffed lightly in response before she leaned back to rest her weight on her palms. "So now what?"

"I'm not entirely sure… I get this feeling though, that the more we're around each other, the more we're actually going to remember what happened." he started. "I know, it sounds stupid, but I think when our energy is around one another, it triggers something."

"Or maybe you're just looking for an excuse to be near me."

"Don't be disgusting."

"Captain Soifon, are you in?"

She glanced up at the call and watched as the heavy set of double doors on the other end of the field were pushed open. A small scowl appeared at the sight of her Lieutenant before she took note of the guest he brought with him; the first Lieutenant, Chojiro Sasakibe. While curiosity was available, she kept it limited as she pushed herself back to her feet. "Is there a reason for this sudden intrusion?"

"I apologize, Captain Soifon, I am only here to deliver a message from Captain Yamamoto." Lieutenant Chojiro started; stopping himself just a few feet from the doorway. "He wishes to speak with you when you have time to spare and are up to it."

"I see… Tell Captain Yamamoto I'll be there to meet with him in ten minutes."

"He says there is no rush-"

"Just rely the message."

"Yes, ma'am."

She watched as the two Lieutenants slowly stepped back before allowing for the door to close behind them. A few seconds passed by before a long sigh escaped her. "This should be… entertaining, right?"

"You're going to have so much fun with it." he replied.

"You should accompany me."

"No thanks."

She turned back to look at him; taking note that he hadn't even bothered to move from before. "And just why not? This is going to be about the mission and you were present, whether you remember so or not."

"He asked for your attendance; not mine." he reminded. "In fact, you're the one he initially ordered to go out on that expedition, I was just there to tag along. He's probably just going to talk about that, which really you were the only person who was supposed to go and know about the whole mess."

"… That's the worst excuse ever."

He only shook his head and moved to get back on his feet. "Believe me, I just think it would be better if you carried on that meeting by yourself. You know about as much as I do and that's still not a lot. To be frank, it's a little frustrating to have all these meetings to speak about it when neither of us remember what the hell happened completely. Bits and pieces are only going to take us so far in a conversation. Until then though, we're just going to have to wing it and get by somehow."

"That does little for my request."

"The last time I went with your 'request' I ended up unconscious for two weeks."

She watched as he moved past her and continued on across the field; stopping only to redress himself in his uniform. Mild bitterness tempted her to continue on with this argument but it was only a stubborn case. He could match her stubbornness in any kind of conversation- of course she suspected he only did so just to annoy her, that was a common trait for him. "What? Not even going to kiss me goodbye?"

There was a sense of sarcasm in her voice that was almost painful accented across her words. He chuckled to himself at the half-empty request. "You used to hate it when I did that."

"… When I get back from that meeting, I expect for you to be ready for me."

"We can continue this discussion another time, Soifon."

"That's Captain."

"Another time."

* * *

><p>"You wished to speak with me?"<p>

The white-bearded Captain looked up from the work he had settled in front of him before he set it aside and stood up at her appearance. "Captain Soifon, I'm glad you could meet with me on short notice; it seems as though you are about as eager as I am to get this solved out."

"Something like that, yes." she nodded; watching as the man moved from around his desk to better face her. "However, I wish for it to be noted that things have not entirely come together just yet, so I'm afraid I won't be entirely able to answer many questions you have regarding this situation."

"Rest assured, it is understood; I'm merely glad to have avoided the loss of two Captains." he nodded. "Now then, there's confirmation that this Hollow is dead… they say it's for now, however I did not send you out on a mission to only half finish; I expect that you killed it completely."

"As do I."

"Good, now then, I must ask… is there anything you remember about this beast? There is talk that… it wasn't entirely organic."

Organic? That was a strange word to use in reference to the heartless bastard. "From what I recall, it had a high level and speed of massive regeneration; we cut off countless number of its limbs and yet more kept showing up." she started; faintly recalling the bladed arms. "There was never less than a hundred of those arms coming at us. As well… Suzumebachi recently informed me that it's outer skin was immune to my poison; it's skin was able to distill and neutralize the poison even after multiple hits." that alone seemed to interest the First Captain as he nodded slowly with the words. "It was also fast- it was easily able to catch me and even evade Captain Tousen's sensing. Now… from what I can remember, there were a lot of odd things about it that didn't set right; it's possible this thing wasn't entirely 'organic' but that just leaves us with the question of who could push the limits of a Hollow? Who could make it that powerful at such a low level?"

"You drive a point, Captain Soifon."

"I just want what everyone else wants. I want answers to this mess."


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Finally getting around to merging some of the past and present together, hopefully creating the atmosphere I want out of it.**

"_What are you doing? Don't just stand there!"_

_He heard her shout and the sound of her feet kicking off from the ground but he couldn't see it; it's energy had disappeared completely to leave nothing more than an empty map in front of him. How the hell was it able to… seal it's energy like that? And so quickly? It was only when he felt the air next to him be cut open did he realize just how close it was now._

"_What the hell were you thinking?" she hissed at him; watching as he seemed to have waited till the very last moment to move away from the thing's grasp. He barely managed to avoid yet another impalement for his foolishness. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"_

"_I don't know if you've even noticed, but it's energy is gone." he snapped back at her as he took the empty space at her side. "I can't even see it anymore…" _

"_Well this is just going to make things complicated for you now."_

"_You know, if we make it out of this, I'm going to relate back to this moment when people start to ask." _

**X**

A quiet groan escaped him at the lingering sense of sleep and the quickly fading memory. One hand partly pressed against his face as a deep inhale eventually got rid of what was left of the remaining exhaustion. What time was it?

Best guess put it at… maybe three in the morning?

Shit… what was he doing fully awake at this hour now?

He doubted it had anything to do with the faint, receding memory… that really gave him little to work on but at least maybe a tiny bit of insight on the Hollow. It wouldn't have been enough to mention or even wake him up at this hour. And he didn't entirely count himself as a man of conscious, so he doubted that was the reason for keeping him up.

But then again… she still managed to keep that effect on him.

It wasn't like he meant to kiss her before… not to say that there was any regret in the decision; it was one of those things that happened and there was little else they could've done for it. But now the incident seemed to revive plenty of other memories that had pushed themselves aside till now. There were plenty of problems from the start but they had been arrogant enough to ignore them; they thought they would be able to work past them. Then again, things weren't supposed to have gone this far, it was just a temporary rush of things. But of course things would have it… it didn't last that long. Soon enough, it was… they were moving faster than originally thought. Soon enough, this wasn't just a temporary thing; it was becoming permanent but neither of them were in the position to continue that. Neither of them were in the position to support it.

Things crashed.

And they crashed quick and hard.

They broke it off and tried to move on. There's where the difficulty of it came in though.

Just because they said they were going to break it off, didn't mean they actually wanted to. He wouldn't have admitted it then but he was willing to now… Captain Byakuya had moved in to seemingly take up her newly freed time and that thought alone had sickened him. He always wondered why she would even bother wasting her time but he kept reminding himself that it was her choice; she could do as she wanted just like he could. It would've been settled that way if she hadn't taken note of his discomfort with her choice and decided to see how far she could push it.

Shaking his head, he eventually pushed himself from the bed and got to his feet. If he was already able to carry on complete and solid thoughts, there was no sense in trying to get back to sleep. Besides, walking around might do him some good anyways. Pulling on his uniform, he stretched for a moment before he headed out of the small bedroom space and towards the Division exit.

He remembered when she asked him to go on the mission with her…

At first he thought it was just a joke and said no; there were plenty of other things he had to do and he had very little time to waste an extra activity. But… somehow she managed to convince him. He figured that somewhere along the way, they both thought it was going to help. They were going towards an isolated location where no one could identify them and no one from the city would overhear them. It seemed ideal. Their overall purpose was to review and get rid of this 'rumored' threat.

But, in the beginning, it was just about them. This was going to be the making or breaking point.

And from some view of it, he guessed it ended up fixing them.

Had to have been by some form of miracle though.

The dark morning air had a chill to it but it was relaxing and almost comforting really. It kind of reminded him a lot about her- cold and bitter, but irresistible at times. Oddly enough, in the past few days, he found himself thinking more about her… more than usual and more than he was actually comfortable with. The scattered pieces of memories drew in more and more concern but she was already healed and healthy by now, so there seemed to be little reason for getting worried. He told himself he had just been concerned because of the injuries she had sustained but now the answer seemed to be different.

He didn't want to think that he was falling back into the black pit that had entrapped them before.

But he was beginning to think that he was.

**X**

"_Where the hell did it go?"_

_He could hear her voice practically echo around the empty forest surrounding them. Not a single trace of energy aside from hers graced his detection; there was no way an entire forest could've been this still- especially not at night. That meant that 'Hollow' had to been through here and either scared away or killed whatever had remained in its path. "It couldn't have gotten that far…"_

_She glanced back at his remark; taking sharp notice that he barely seemed to even be concentrating on what was going on. He was distracted by something around them… or the lack of. Shaking her head, she went back to trailing her away along the small clearing trail. It was impossible for that thing to have gotten away from them! She was moving far too quickly for it to just… disappear like that. Kicking off of another tree, she landed easily on an overhanging branch in some false hope that the extra height would give her more insight of what was around them. She was almost blind in the darkness though. "That's impossible… how could it have gotten away? You saw how big that thing was; it couldn't have moved that fast."_

_Bringing himself to a short pause a few feet behind her trail, he took a long moment to scope out the area around them. Still nothing. "It was too large to just evade our senses like that. I should've been able to pick up on it's energy by now…"_

"_This puts us in a rough predicament." she started. "We couldn't have let it get away like that; it has to still be here somewhere."_

"_We should've run into some environmental damage by now but-"_

_An ear-splitting, pierced shriek echoed behind them as the ground itself seemed to shake its way out from underneath them. Fingers made quick to grasp at swords as they turned back to confront the creature; watching and listening as its massive body ripped the aged oaks from their roots in its surged warpath towards them. _

_A sharp frown cursed her lips as she caught hold of the creature's plans._

_While they thought they were chasing the creature further inward… it had been the Hollow chasing them this entire time. _

_Massive arms drug it's even larger, bloated body along the forest ground; the three fingers that came at the end of the arms were pointed and ripped up the dirt with every step and drag. What seemed to be the head portion of it, or rather face or maybe even the lack of one, was pressed back into the body with a lower jaw jutted outward. Teeth curved out from behind its shredded lips before back in to create a hook-like illusion and silhouette. Massive eyes lined the top of the back, most of the ranging from different sizes but she was almost certain some of them were larger than herself._

_To be frank, she had never seen something as ugly as that before. _

_Another shriek ripped open the creature's massive mouth to reveal even more jagged teeth; the force of its scream seemed to resemble that of a banshee as it forced air to whip almost painfully at their bodies. An immense amount of energy ripped itself free from the creature's body and radiated the surrounding area with a heavy, suffocating cloud of it._

_The sheer amount of energy that appeared before him was almost painful as it seemed to burn through his senses and render him momentarily disabled. _

"_That is one, ugly ass mother-"_

**X**

"What are you doing up at this hour?"

The question pulled him to a still as he half turned back towards the voice; recognizing the soft tone and the faint hint of concern. "Maybe I should be asking you the same thing, Captain Unohana." he chuckled lightly. "Then again, you're always up at all the hours."

She smiled softly in return. "My garden is always tended to at this hour and it gives me a reason to get an earlier start on the day. But you… you aren't normally active for another hour or so."

"What hour is it exactly? I seem to have lost track of time."

"It's a little past seven now."

Seven? Wasn't it just three in the morning a few minutes ago? Had he really been caught up in his thoughts for that long… or had his judge of time just been off. "I had a little trouble sleeping last night, so I figured I might as well put the time to good use while I was awake."

"Was it injury-related?" she questioned as she gently ran her fingers over the soft petals of her climbing roses; the vibrant mix of pink and orange seemed to blend itself across every petal to create a colorful mask over the blossoming flowers.

"No… to be honest, I'm not entirely sure what kept me up." he answered.

"I'm sure it will come to you soon enough." she assured. "Until then, I would appreciate it if you and Captain Soifon dropped back by my Division just for some follow up studies. I know, the wounds are healed and it's been two weeks since the initial attack but it's my job to keep up on everyone's health; I just want to make sure there aren't any lasting effects or symptoms from the battle… or from exposure to such an odd Hollow."

He thought about questioning her last statement but thought better of it at the last moment. "Don't worry, if you ask us to, who are we to deny your request?"

A soft chuckle left her as she turned to tend to the other flowers around her. "Oh Kaname…"


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: This one took me awhile to pull off because for some reason, I guess I had fallen momentarily out of the mood but it's back now. Just as a heads up, there are some sexual themes in this chapter, which I'm sure everyone already has experience with reading some but I still have to give a warning about it. **

The morning came far too quickly for her.

As tempting as it was to stay in bed, she forced herself to give up the small spot of relief and head out to the training fields once more. She supposed the battle had taken more out of her than she first thought; she had never once been reluctant to get out of bed and now… it seemed like the beginning of an annoying habit. At least she kept her mentality to keep training, Gods know what would happen if that began to slip from her grasp.

The training field always looked its best in the dawning hours; a golden haze seemed to suit the flat arena well.

Fingers went to remove her heavy uniform and reveal the lighter, more appealing one underneath; the faint breeze made its way easily through the open splits that ran down her sides and caressed the scarred flesh. It was exhilarating to feel the break of the air around her as her body seemed to twist itself through the invisible support; shredding and tearing through the empty space like it was made to fight her. But sometimes, it was just as exhilarating to feel the coolness of the air strip its way over her skin in a moment of stillness.

"Captain Soifon!"

Her moment seemed to come to a screeching halt at the call and she half-turned almost resentfully to face the source. Eyes slightly narrowed as she watched the dark-haired, Sixth Division Captain walk his way across her training field. "I suppose it's a good thing that you interrupted me before I started my training schedule or else I would've forced you to join me in battle."

"Yes well, after awhile you start to learn everyone's routine and figure out the best moment of interruption." Byakuya replied; taking note of the woman's stiff position as she had been just seconds from beginning her usual, long-hours of grueling self-torture. "I came by to inform you of a change of plans."

She slowly turned herself to face him fully now; watching as he stopped just a few feet short of her. "Go on."

"Captain Kenpachi and I have been discussing about a possible revisit to the scene since both you and Captain Tousen requested one. We've decided that the best plan of action would be to launch one in two days from now-"

"Why two days? Why not now?"

"Because it would give you more, ample time to heal and regain your strength." he answered; showing a slight frown at her interruption. "As well, it gives us time to put things into order; Captain Yamamoto has already given us confirmation for the travel, so all we have left to do is clear up some of the details. Now then, it might be difficult to relocate that village precisely this time around considering you two had been off-target for its location-"

"Regardless if we were or not, we found the Hollow and we killed it; end of story." Soifon reminded as she brought her arms to cross over her chest. "As well, if your scouting team was able to find the village, then we should have no problem with it- that is of course if you allow Captain Kenpachi to lead, in which case no one will find our bodies."

"Ah yes… it's already been determined who will lead this escort."

"Yes well, I can find my way there just fine, I don't need your 'escort' to help me." she countered lightly.

He narrowed his eyes slightly at the remark. "Soifon, this isn't like some kind of 'dominance' attempt; we just think you should probably take some more time to heal. It's not every mission that we have two Captains nearly wiped out."

Chuckling almost bitterly to herself, she slowly walked herself over to him; cutting the open space between them easily with her short gait. "I'll admit, it was a little surprising to have the news told back to me. It's an odd situation where someone else has to tell you what happened because you just can't remember shit even though your body was practically torn apart by some kind of… 'Hollow.' Let me just say one thing though… don't underestimate my abilities to get over something. Don't think I just lie awake at night, scared shitless about what happened out there. If anything, the only reason I want to remember is so that I can know how well I handled that situation. I want to remember what it was like to hear that creature beg for my mercy and get none in return."

"What's the reason for this little spill of yours?"

"Because, Byakuya…" she started; making it known that she easily dropped the title from his name. "To be honest, I'm probably one of few Captains who could've actually overcome that obstacle so easily. It's been two weeks and a day or two… and I'm already out here training again. Where would you be in this kind of situation?"

His silence seemed to mark its own answer to her.

"Regardless, we'll be leaving in two days. I hope you can manage before then."

"Oh, don't worry about me, I'll try."

The bitter sarcasm in her voice was incriminating as he looked down at her rather stoic expression that moved to burn holes into his. "Just try not to overdo it _this time_."

**X**

_She gave into the feel of his hands as they moved to caress her body. Fingertips burning into her skin as he seemed to cradle her against him; pressing into her spine as she seemed easily nestled in his arms. There was a craving for something deeper than flesh as her fingers traced down the curve of his jaw line and coaxed him into another embrace. Arms moved to cross over the back of his neck as lips stirred openly with one another. _

_There was a sense of surrendering as they both forfeited into the contact of skin. _

_She let him draw her up as the embrace only seemed to deepen the more she put thought into it; the more she remembered how much she enjoyed the way he tasted; the way his tongue moved inside of her. There was that shudder in his skin as bare fingertips traced their way over his body; embracing every contour and curve that outlined and sculpted the figure she had fallen far too deep into. Before, it had been a question of lust, or passion; lawful desire or wrongful craving. But now, with the heat of his body pressed so tightly against her own and the soothing embrace of his hands against her flesh… it didn't matter. All that mattered was the tangled mess of sheets that could barely conceal their yen-starved bodies, their sweat-laced flesh. The twist of fingers locked in hair as lips gasped in opposite directions; she gave breath to the ceiling above them as he released a wave of hot air to pool into the empty dip of her nape. _

_It was the rhythmic movement between them._

_The way he could please her body in more than one way. _

_The sense of wanting to give in to the way he made her feel more and more like a woman in the tortured skin she carried._

_Her pale thighs almost seemed odd as they cradled his darker hips; her lungs were burning with every gasp and pant he forced from her chest; his body made her own curl and arch with the deep movements he put inside of her. The tips of her fingernails pressed harshly into the back of his neck and the curve of one shoulder as she moved herself in time with him; her hips pressing back against his as he released his own slur of groans at the counteracting contact. Fingers curled into her spine as legs moved to cross ankles over the small of his back; pulling his hips closer to her own and forcing every motion to bring on a grind of skin. Every new movement seemed to bring on a lustful kind of torture to the nerves that settled beneath their flesh; working every sensor till every system was flooded itself with euphoria. _

_He gave life of ecstasy to the brush of lips he brought to her flushed skin. _

_She fell victim to the heavy embraces that stroked the top layer of flesh as he seemed to move at a curve from the dip of her neck and down to the flat of her sternum. Her spine seemed destined to break itself as it arched again and shared the ownership of her body with him. A soft moan seemed to hiss through open lips at the motion of his lips against her breast- _

"… Captain Soifon?"

She snapped from the memory and looked back to the dark-haired Captain who seemed to be staring at her with a look of questioning and confusion. "What is it?"

"You looked like you blacked out for a moment… did you just remember something?"

She swore her cheeks were probably already flushed but she merely shook her head. "No, I was just merely reviewing some facts and things I've heard recently; things that might help us figure out what exactly we're looking for when we get back to that place. Any sign of environmental damages that could clue us in to where the confrontation was specifically, maybe even former blood spots or items that were lost during battle- given the chances that they're still there. Things like that, that's all. Now then, if you'll excuse me… I'd like to continue on with my training; I have very little time to waste right now."

He nodded slowly before he turned to go. "Very well then, I will speak with you later on this day."

"I'll be looking forward to it." she remarked; watching as he moved across the training field before he disappeared into the next area. She moved one hand to brush aside her dark bangs as she turned back to the empty field in front of her. "This can't be possible…"

That couldn't have happened…

Things ended… just like he said… there was no reason for them to have… done something like that.

She was going to give herself a few hours to think things through before she even considered speaking to him again. She just wanted to give themselves some personal space to figure things out separately. Shaking her head, she moved back to focus on the empty field in front of her. She just wanted to get some training done… was that really too much to ask for?

"_Do you understand me now?"_

She scowled at the voice and glanced down at the sword that hung from her waist; she must've forgotten to toss the sheath aside for some physical training. "I don't want to talk about it right now-"

"_Oh please, you couldn't get enough-"_

"I said I didn't want to talk about it."

"_No one said you had to talk; you never said I couldn't." _

Fingers were quick to unclip the sheath before she tossed it aside; giving very little care as to where it landed. "Don't distract me while I'm training."

"_You really don't like talking about it, do you?"_

"I'm just trying to get my thoughts together on this whole matter and… that is the last thing I want to distract me at the moment." she muttered.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Had the chapter done and then I completely hated it so I rewrote it all the night before. Needless to say, I'm happier with this format than I was with the other one. **

Every swing.

Every kick.

Every goddamn movement seemed to bring burns to her skin as she twisted her body through the rigorous training. It was the same damn session she used every morning and yet this one… it just felt different. It felt like she wasn't moving fast enough; she wasn't landing hard or lightly enough. She wasn't doing anything right, which only pushed her to force her body to do more. She was going to return to her previous state. There wasn't going to be a second of hesitation in that matter.

She had to get stronger.

She wasn't going to be caught off-guard like that.

And yet, her mental state seemed completely fine with her failure as it drug her down. All she wanted to do was train- no thinking, no remembering. And yet, her mind seemed to want to force that memory on her again and again. She was here to train, not here to remember how well he had pleased her. Why couldn't she just let it go?

Her next landing came with enough force to crack the ground beneath her; deep fractures running off in all directions around her. Heavy pants coursed freely from her lips before she lightly fell to one knee. Her body was already aching from the heavy treatment; she could feel what might've been old injuries beginning to work up. What had the Fourth Division Captain told her about them? Something how she managed to break some of her limbs… she guessed that explained why she wasn't able to move as swiftly anymore. Still, it would be forced away in time.

She could feel her energy now as it seemed to radiate freely in massive bursts. Through so much inner turmoil, she must've let her grip on it loosen and allow for the heavy waves to escape. At this time in the morning, it was really much less of a concern- there was no need for worry on if half of the city was going to be in a panic over some heavy energy.

"Soifon."

She pushed herself back to her feet and dusted herself off before she turned to see who had called for her. Pausing in her own movement as her eyes settled on the Ninth Division Captain- he was, quite frankly, the last person she wanted to see right now. "What? Is there something important that you want? I'm kind of busy right now."

It was easy to hear the snap in her voice and it shouldn't have really caught him off-guard, but it did regardless. Something about her energy didn't feel right but as soon as he noticed it, she lowered it back to normal levels. "Ah yes, I can tell… I just thought I'd drop by and see how you were this morning, but I suppose I'll come back later."

She watched as he seemed to hold some kind of confusion or caution towards her before he turned to leave. "Did you remember anything else over the night?"

Why would she ask him something like that after already enforcing that she didn't want company at this hour. "Not a lot, I think the creature was able to seal its energy completely and avoid my detection but that was about it." he answered. "I'm guessing that's how I obtained several of my injuries. What about you?"

"… No, nothing came to me, but then again that's not all too surprising. I'm not entirely worried about remembering anything right now, I'm just at the point where I want everything over with."

"Believe me, I'm ready to put this whole thing behind us."

She rocked one foot back slightly as her hands found their way to her hips. "There may be a matter I wish to discuss with you later, where will I find you?"

The request was a bit odd… but he supposed there was a time and place for everything. "I'll probably be in my office all day; there's a lot of paperwork I have to catch up on and unfortunately they're not going to sign themselves."

She was always curious as to how he managed paperwork but she never questioned it. "Yes well, I'll see you when my training is done here."

"I guess I'll see you then." he replied before he turned to continue on his leave of the training field. Something about her seemed off but he supposed it wasn't his place to question such. It was probably just stress- training with the ferocity that she did even with some injuries still being raw… it was bound to have pushed her limit's a little bit. Maybe more. He continued on his way through the Second Division house before he quickly exited the building and stepped out into the still early morning setting. He wasn't normally up and active at this hour but he guessed the extra hours would help put a dent in the growing pile of paper work on his desk. There were things to review, things to sign, just… an overall mess of the place that he hadn't gotten around to completely cleaning up just yet.

Walking back towards his Division, he noticed he could still feel the faint traces of her energy even from this distance. Something was bothering her but she was never one for words or really any outward expression of emotion. He was sure she would eventually let it go though- she was never one to linger on something for too long of a period of time. It was only just a waste as she usually described.

"Captain Ukitake dropped by while you were gone."

He looked up at his Lieutenant's voice, which spoke the moment he stepped into the open lobby of his own Division. "Did he have anything to say?"

"He brought your sword back, so I went ahead and put it in your office."

Well at least there was some good news for the day. "Alright, I'm going to go check in on the repairs and see if Suzumushi is up to talking about what happened."

The walk back to his office seemed to last far too long as he wondered if the spirit would really remember anything from the battle. The sword took a massive amount of damage, he didn't know if that would affect the Zanpakutō directly or not. He guessed now was the time to see if it did or didn't. Sliding open the office door, he closed it quietly behind him before he walked towards the sheathed sword that rested on his desk.

"Are you awake?"

"_I'm a little sore but I'll live."_

A light chuckle escaped as the quick response was reassuring to hear. "That makes two of us then."

"_That must've been a hellva battle."_

"It was enough to put us out for two weeks so I'd imagine so; the scattered memories make it seem like a bloodbath." he replied as he carefully made his way around the office before he seated himself behind his desk. "I imagine that it was though after carefully reviewing our reported injuries."

"… _Yes, there was much blood loss and horrific injuries. In fact, I… I'm surprised to see you are this well even after two weeks of rest; I am glad for it though."_

"Do you remember anything from it? I know you somehow managed to take a massive amount of damage but the reason for it eludes me."

There was a moment of silence as the spirit seemed to be rolling the question over and over again. _"I remember that I was trying to protect you from that thing but it nearly shattered my blade body so you… opted to save me instead. That thing… it was horrific to witness but I remember cutting open its belly." _

Cutting open the stomach? Why would they do that? "What was the reason for that?"

"_We had to retrieve Captain Soifon and her sword, Suzumebachi; they were stuck inside of the creature."_

Well… that just made the battle weirder and weirder at this point. He supposed the thing died as a mix of poison and ultimate… disembowelment. Interesting combination. "Well that gives us yet another answer to this mess."

"_It broke your arm during the battle and managed to render you unconscious for a brief period of time as well."_

Okay, that part was also new. He remembered Captain Unohana reported that they had both suffered broken limbs but he had never really went back on those injuries. And he certainly didn't remember being knocked unconscious either, then again he didn't remember much anyways so that wasn't new. "That's beginning to fill in more holes in this whole story."

"_Yes, I would hope so… Captain Soifon had been worried for your well-being during the short period of unconsciousness; I do not believe I have ever seen her in such a state before."_

Now, that was interesting. "… I'm sure I would've returned the same if it had happened to her instead; it would've been a natural reaction kind of thing." not really but still… he tried not to make a deeper motive for it.

"_You know, I remember a lot about her during that mission."_

The golden question here was whether or not he wanted to follow in on that statement. He supposed there wasn't really any harm in doing so. "… What do you remember? Was there something else she did or said?"

"_Oh well… there was something that you both did."_

On second thought, he wasn't that curious about that. "Yes well… Captain Soifon and I are on different terms right now so… whatever happened then is probably not relevant to the situation now."

"_Are you sure? You do not seem like it."_

"I'd just prefer not to talk about it right now."

"… _You told her that you loved her."_

"Believe me, I remember that part. I also remember her not returning it, so-"

"… _But she did." _

"What do you-" he started; stopping only when the sound of his office door being forced open interrupted him. It didn't take long or really much effort to detect the energy and identify who it was. The Second Division Captain's quick and unannounced presence turned the air tense and almost… awkward really as the traces of his previous conversation was still present. "… I thought you said you weren't going to be stopping by until later?"

"Yeah well technically it's later and I never really specified a time, now did I?" she replied sharply as she kicked the door closed behind her. Her eyes took note of the new sword on the desk; it's blade completely repaired of the former cracks. "I see Suzumushi finished her repairs, how is she?"

"_I'm doing well."_

"She's fine for now." he answered. "Now… what is that you wanted to talk about?"

"_You seem nervous, why? Is it because of your relationship with her-"_

"It's fine." he quietly interrupted.

She caught note of how he was speaking to the sword spirit in a similar fashion to the way she had spoken to Suzumebachi earlier. It made her wonder if there was something they were hiding, much like she had before. Now would be the time to find out. "When you asked me earlier if I had remembered anything, I lied."

"Why? What exactly… did you remember?"

"Well… I remember us in a rather compromising situation." she started.

"_Oh, great way of describing your little horizontal bop with one another."_ Suzumebachi sneered.

"_Oh dear."_ Suzumushi remarked in response.

"And suddenly I feel like I've just been left out of something." he replied. "Can we just come clean with one another and stop hiding whatever it is that-"

"We had sex." she interrupted quickly. "Don't ask me why, because I don't remember and at this point, I'm not entirely sure I really want to know that badly."

"_That's what I was going to tell you."_

It took a moment to get over the initial shock of the response and a few more to gather his thoughts and form a response together. The thought of it seemed completely absurd to the situation it had occurred during… they were sent out to track down a Hollow not… do that. "I… well I guess that explains a lot."

"Oh tell me about it." she remarked with a touch of sarcasm. "I don't know where that puts us on whatever map we're on but… I think it just got us more lost."

"_That's when she said she loved you."_

"_She said she loved him?" _Suzumebachi repeated.

The color drained from her face at the words and question that came from the sword spirit; she must've been communicating with Suzumushi but… how the hell did she know? "I said what?"

"Uh well… I don't really know how to explain that to you because I don't remember that occurring." he answered; feeling as though the air seemed to become twice as heavy with the tension. "I mean, Suzumushi said something about it earlier but-"

"That's not possible." she interrupted.

"_Oh really? Because I think it is. I mean, you don't remember shit."_

He wasn't entirely sure how to react to her words but decided to just set that aside for now. "Look, like I said, it came from a secondary source; we'll just have to set it some place else until one of us remembers it for certain. Until then, I'm sure we'd both like it if we could just… put this whole mess behind us and move on."

"_Bitch move."_

She cursed at the Zanpakutō in the back of her mind. "I… that's not what I meant."

"Look, I just don't think either of us want to get into this right now. So, why don't we just go our separate ways for now and give time to figure this out later, much later." he offered. He knew she wasn't going to say anything in response and listened to the almost hesitant footsteps as she turned to leave; listening to the door being pushed open before it was pulled back closed.

The following silence seemed like something that he needed.

"… _Are you going to be okay?"_

"I'll be fine."


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: I'll be honest, I just don't feel like this chapter is really up to par with the others. I kind of skipped around it a lot because I didn't want to be bogged down describing the entire journey but then it comes out kind of jumpy. I'll never be completely happy. **

"Don't say a thing."

"_I wasn't planning on it but now that you told me not to, I guess I will."_

Hands were quick to slam nearly every door that crossed her path; listening to the faint echoes of it behind her back as she carried on her way down the conjoining corridor. The meeting hadn't gone as planned; it should've had a different approach, it shouldn't have ended like that… It felt like the fingers were pointed in all directions on this.

"_Well a few of them better be pointed back at yourself." _

"You know, he's the one who wanted us to leave, so that's not entirely my fault." she snapped as she continued through the different corridors without exactly knowing where she was going anymore at this point. "Maybe we should've just done that in the first place."

"_Maybe you shouldn't have been a complete bitch."_

"I was caught off-guard! What did you want me to say?"

"_Well telling him that it was impossible for you to have said you loved him back is certainly something NOT to say, but hell you went ahead and did it anyways. And you question why all your relationships are so shitty."_

She ignored the spirit completely now as she paused momentarily to see where she had managed to place herself. If she could just… find a nice, quiet place to boil in her thoughts… Shaking her head, she continued on from where she had paused, this time no longer caring exactly where she put herself now. It just felt like this wasn't entirely happening at the moment. That wasn't what she meant… those weren't the words she meant when they came out.

"_Ooh let me guess, you're going to run back into the arms of that.. Oh, who was she again? You know, the one who was holding you back from him? That's right, Yoruichi or something like that. You remember her? Or, let me guess, you might just test out that other Captain you've only seen a few times outside of business. What's his name? Byakuya of some sort? Oh yeah, you'll fit into that family real nicely."_

"What do you want from me?"

"_Well hell, I'd like it if you didn't make such a mess of your life because you ruin it for me as well, but I guess that just sounds selfish of me. Would it really take that much effort to try and… put a little more into a relationship?"_

"I'm a solitary person, you of all people should know that. The fact that I would go that far into a relationship… it's beyond me." she muttered.

"_You didn't seem to have a problem with Yoruichi."_

"That's a completely different story." she snapped lightly.

"_You're right, you were like her bodyguard or something like that… but Gods forbid that you actually try and put feelings like that into someone completely new."_

"You've never supported anything I've done, aside from dominating the battlefield. Why are you so upset now?" she questioned; listening to the long pause of silence that followed after in answer. "Did you actually… like him just as well? Did you actually 'support' that relationship?"

"… _Look, he was actually able to make you happy- something you haven't been in a long time; you were actually relaxed and you weren't such a bitch all the time either. Believe it or not, I'm stuck with you and I'd just prefer to see you be happy. And you know, he actually treated you with respect and I think he was genuine when he said he loved you… something I guess you just weren't ready to accept." _

* * *

><p>The two days that had separated her from the upcoming trip passed by in almost agonizing speed; every minute and hour seemed to be pulling themselves along by fingertips as forty-eight hours felt like a hundred instead. She never knew she could be so anxious to see something and yet… it felt like she was going to rip herself in half if she didn't get herself back to that scene.<p>

Back to that battlefield.

… in the two days, they had little contact with one another. It wasn't like they seemed to be purposely avoiding one another, it just… it couldn't really be explained. She thought about going back to speak to him but had decided against it on several occasions. No real reason to but she had convinced herself that there would another time for such later.

Until then, there were other things to deal with it.

"Are you ready to depart?"

She turned at the question to see the Sixth Division Captain standing in the open doorway of her office. It was almost dawn outside and yet she hadn't slept since the night before. "I was ready to depart two days ago but I suppose the answer you're looking for is yes."

"Captain Kenpachi is retrieving Captain Tousen at this moment-"

"I don't recall asking for any information such as that, so you're only wasting my time." she interrupted as she moved to step around him. "Let's just head out and figure out what the hell happened in those mountains."

An irritated sigh seemed to leave him as he turned to follow after her. "You seem far too rushed for this."

"I apologize then if it appears as though I am the only one here who wants some answers." she called back to him. "Now I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't waste any more of my time. We have quite a journey ahead of us, I'd like to get it over with as soon as I can." Working her way through the Division building, she headed out the front door but stopped just enough to prevent a minor collision with the much-taller Captain.

"Well at least you're awake."

She frowned slightly and eased her way around the second Captain. "Yes, Good morning to you too, Captain Kenpachi, but you're just wasting my time with these greetings."

"Captain Tousen said you would say something like that."

"Yeah well, he would probably know." she muttered to herself as she stepped out onto the main street just outside of her Division. "Let's light a fire underneath our feet here and just get going."

In her mind, they had made her wait so she was going to make it hell for them in return. Maybe not for the entire journey but… well a majority of it anyways. She needed something to keep her busy.

Leaving the city was the easiest part of it and it was only the start.

She found herself remembering a lot of the surroundings around them as they progressed further and further into the changing environment. Once lavishing green lands toned down for a bit and transformed into struggling fields before they seemed to gather the strength to return to its former state. The mountains that had once been in the distance were now becoming clearer and much larger with every footstep. There was a partly chopped down forest to their right that she remembered… they might've taken a break there at one point or another.

A few more hours put them into a river setting where a couple of wild birds seemed to be taking a morning bath. That too seemed strikingly familiar. She wasn't entirely sure if it felt more like she was regaining her memories or that she was in some kind of odd flashback.

Put some kind of black and white tone to everything and add in a skipping texture, it would've been like an eerie movie on a life she didn't know existed just yet.

* * *

><p>It was well past noon by the time they reached the mountainside; their efforts managed to get them a good ways up along the mountain before the path they had been dedicated to split off into two directions. She took note that the left one seemed to curl off into a thick patch of trees while the right one almost appeared to shoot straight up along the mountain.<p>

"Where are you going?" she questioned; watching as the Sixth Captain stepped towards the right path. "We took the left path here."

A quiet groan seemed to leave him as he turned back towards her. "Well then, I guess that solves the mystery of how you two managed to get lost. If you had followed the directions carefully, you would've known that you had to take the right path."

"What's it matter? We found the damn thing regardless if we got lost or not." she snapped lightly in return. "And it sure as hell seemed like it wanted to be there instead. If we had taken that path we might've completely missed it for all we know."

"I highly doubt that, in fact it more than likely wiped out this village before coming after the one you were in." Byakuya countered.

"Well if you love that path so much, why don't you follow it." she muttered as she turned back and continued on her own way. The last thing she needed right now was for him to be acting like… well basically himself and getting under her skin. Shaking her head, she pushed her bangs from her face tried to reset her focus on the path ahead of her; on the village they would soon be stumbling upon. She imagined it wouldn't be all too good looking anymore, in fact it was probably just going to be a pile of toothpicks and trash at this point.

"Sometimes I think you just enjoy pissing him off."

She glanced back at the remark and took note of the Ninth Captain taking the empty space beside her. "Yeah well, I need something to entertain me for these last few miles. And he's just making it too easy for me not to."

"That's easily noted." he agreed with a light chuckle. "Does any of this seem familiar to you?"

"It's beginning to put some pieces together, so yes." she nodded. "I don't think Pretty Boy or Ape Man really understand that though."

It would be useless to try and calm her of her… colorful nicknames for the other two but once she got started, it was difficult to stop her. "I think it would be best if we tried not to let them interfere too much with this… whatever it is you could call this."

"It would be terrible if I created false memories of killing them both."

"Okay, now you're pushing it just a little bit."

She gave another shake of her head as even this seemed to be familiar. The two of them traveled this path together once before and… she got the hint that it was tense, kind of like how it still was even now. Maybe they argued along the way as well. She just wanted to get everything else solved out first… and the rest could follow later.

Pushing through the last mess of brush, she stepped out into the massive clearing that had made itself a former home to a small village. Of course now… it was just a home to devastation and debris.

"Oh jeez…" she muttered as she let her dark eyes look around at the destruction that had laid the small village to rest in a violent grave. Splintered shells remained of handmade buildings, the dirt paths were caved in as whatever had gone through ripped the ground uncleanly from its place, darkened areas in the dirt marked the placement of where bodies had once been; their faint silhouette shapes were twisted and wrenched in agonizing positions. "This place looks like a hellhole."

"You should've seen it before the clean up crews got here." Byakuya replied as he carefully stepped free from the trail behind her; his eyes barely moving over the already witnessed and studied mayhem.

"No thanks."

Stepping forward, he moved around the small town for any kind of residue of energy or anything that would help connect this village to his memories. Nothing was working though. The only thing he could pick up was the small woodland animals running around somewhere… but the night of that attack… the entire forest was silent and still. He was almost certain of that. "Are you getting anything?"

She paused for a moment to take in the scenery; absolutely nothing sticking out to her. "No. This is the right place but… there's nothing here that's sticking out to me. I recall… a few places but nothing more than blurred faces and distorted voices."

"Well this is the battlefield, which you said could help you in this recovery case." Byakuya reminded as he kept himself mainly to the boundary of the former village. "If you're not getting anything, then I suppose this trip was just a waste."

She was about to remark that perhaps if he were a bit more patient and not so loud, she could focus a bit more of their surroundings; they just got here, it wasn't like something was just going to- "No… no this isn't the battlefield." she whispered, more to herself than anyone else. "This is just where, I guess we managed to drag ourselves out after that battle. No, that thing chased us… into there." she slowly turned and looked to the widened entrance of the forest line around them. "That's where we fought."

"… No sense in wasting time then."

Walking ahead of the rest of the group, she easily made her way to the forest entrance before she allowed for herself to be engulfed by the trees. Dark eyes examined the environment for any kind of signs and yet… it felt like something was pulling her along the path. Something familiar. She barely waited for the others as she made her own pace along the narrowing trail that seemed almost perfect- what if she had been wrong?

No, that was impossible.

She was never-

Her thoughts stopped as well as her steps as she came upon the first sign of damage. The dirt had been uplifted in six long trenches that were deep enough she could probably step into one and disappear from sight. Oaks had been ripped from their places as tangled roots hung lifelessly above her; it was just a few but… rows of them had been pulled clean out. She pushed herself to continue on through the scene as the trail began to widen out before it erupted into a larger path- one that would've been large enough to host a battle.

"This is it…"


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Thanks the reviews! I'm working on wrapping it up pretty soon, although I really don't want to lol; I forgot how fun some couples were to type about. But alas, there will be plenty more stories in the future.**

Yes… this was it.

She barely noted the voice behind her as she looked over the scene once more. Everything about it stuck out to her; flashes of memories seemed to echo and play back through her head at every other view. "I can't believe it's taken us this long to figure it out…"

He nodded with her as the scene itself seemed to radiate. "Doesn't have the same feel it did that night."

"Well we're missing one big-ass Hollow and a few near-death experiences." she remarked as she started to walk further into the scene. It was like she could almost see their silhouettes moving about the entire scene in shattered flashback pieces. "… I remember standing over there and I remember it trying to impale me."

"I remember it knocking me into that tree." he started.

"And over here… I almost broke my hip when I got knocked into that boulder."

"My arm was snapped out of place when it threw me into the ground."

"It knocked you out..." she replied as she turned to look around the place before she pointed to another area. "Right over there. I thought it had managed to kill you."

"Were you scared?"

"What? No. Of course not."

"Really? Because I faintly recall you panicking over it."

She frowned and turned back to him at the words; taking note that he seemed to be laughing at her expense. "I recall you nearly losing it when that thing was trying to cut my head open."

"I'm not going to try and defend myself for that one." he replied as he started to walk around the scene a bit more. "It's not like we had encountered a hollow like that before so I didn't know what to expect from it- and that homemade lobotomy trick was definitely at the top of that list."

"True and I don't think I've ever witness so many impalement wounds before." she added as she opted to lean back slightly on a nearby boulder. "I think I recall… it actually hooking itself into your stomach and try to disembowel you."

"… You know, I think I could've gone with not remembering that part."

"Yeah, well tell that to my left breast."

"Is this it then? Doesn't look too bad I suppose."

She glanced back at the remark and watched as the other two accompanying Captains seemed to finally be able to catch up to them. They were both fairly distracted by examining the former battlefield, although neither of them seemed too impressed by it. "Yeah well, just remember what we looked like when you found us all ripped open and bleeding, and then try to imagine what the hell this place looked like at that time."

That seemed to do the trick.

"Is everything coming back to you then?" Byakuya questioned.

"Yeah, something like that." she remarked. "It's still in bits and pieces but I haven't been able to get the full picture just yet. If I stay here a little longer, I might but there's no promises… with all that damage we took, its possible we won't remember everything. I mean… I'm pretty sure I was one hit away from having my brains splattered all over the place. Or having an arm wrenched off. Or having my guts spilled out everywhere. Or-"

"We get the picture."

"It's a damn shame, if a Hollow could do that much damage, I would've liked to see it." Kenpachi remarked.

"No, no you wouldn't." Tousen replied.

"What would you know? You're blind anyways."

"And I'm glad for it."

**X**

"_Ever get the feeling that… we're just going to die here?"_

_A weak chuckle left his lips as he helped to shoulder some of her weight. "I think at this point, it's progressed from a feeling to a sense of knowing."_

_She shared the light chuckle with him even if the small motion brought pain shearing across her chest. Half of her body was numb anyways as open injuries were sealed in layers of dried blood; a few fresh streams still trickled their way down her arms and left a crimson trail to mark their path. Her left arm hung almost lifelessly at her side as the lack of color in her fingertips hinted at its ruptured veins and slashed artery- if it hadn't been for the faint grasp of energy that tried to keep it from rushing out, she would've passed out a long time ago; her right arm was lightly hooked around his waist as she used him to help her keep her balance more in place. _

"_I thought I was going to lose you back there…"_

* * *

><p>She leaned back against the boulder slightly as an odd sense of silence seemed to drift itself freely around them. The other two decided to leave them to the battlefield and examine the village once more- or at least do something to use up their time without bothering them; that left just the two of them alone once more. She wasn't sure if that was something she did or didn't want right now.<p>

"… I lied earlier when you asked me if I had been scared."

"Really? I figured you would've been more annoyed since you would've had to fill out all the paperwork and file a death certificate." he remarked as he opted to lean against a tree straight across from her. "You probably would've made up a pretty bad story about it too."

"Yeah well I'm not the most creative person when it comes to making up stories." she replied lightly before her tone seemed to drop. "… It was just that… you weren't responding and I think you actually got hit hard enough to where it stopped your breathing. That thing wouldn't let me get to you so… if something serious had happened I wouldn't have been able to help. I absolutely detest the feeling of helplessness but in that one instant, that's all I felt. To be honest… yeah, I was scared."

"That's how I felt when that thing was trying to take off your head." he started. "Actually, I think that was the overall feel of the battle. We both kept getting caught in that thing's attacks, we both kept suffering from the same wounds but we still tried to protect each other regardless of how useless it seemed. I think we were both afraid of what would happen if that thing actually succeeded in killing one of us. I wouldn't have known what to do or how to even react to that."

"The first reaction is normally disbelief and then it's followed by panic; grief and anger trail distantly behind that and then you realize it's all over, there was nothing you could've done about it anyways." she commented. "I've lost a lot of partners in my time; most of them when I was younger and partly inexperienced… most of them were before my days as a Captain. I thought I had passed that point in failure. I figured as long as I trained and fought hard, then any one who was forced to follow me would be the same; I usually cursed at them for their weakness and inability to even watch for themselves. It was all about convincing myself that they died because of their own foolish ways, because in reality they did. So what if I came back empty-handed? I've made plenty of journeys back home by myself. It didn't bother me. But for some reason, this one… I refused to make that kind of a walk alone. Just because I cursed at them for being weak didn't mean I actually wanted them to die, maybe they deserved it but… then wasn't the right time. That's why I was caught off-guard when they told me you had been my partner and you were in just as bad of shape as me; I expected you to have already been dead. If you hadn't had woken up a day after me… I would've presumed your death would follow along in the next few days or so. But it didn't. I guess it told me I was doing something right this time. I wasn't fighting for just myself, I was trying to fight for you too; I remember throwing myself out into battle with a crippled arm just so you wouldn't have to take the blunt of its attacks."

"I think that battle opened a lot of doors to us, but to be frank I don't think we'll walk through any of them."

"Of course not, where's the challenge in that? Let me kick down a few doors and we'll see where it goes."

He chuckled lightly at her response and pushed himself from the tree behind him. "Only you would create some kind of analogy as that. But, we should probably start heading back now… I think we know enough of what happened here to put together the story."

"Well… I partly recall a few scenes that were promised not to go into the finalized report." she started as she pushed herself back to her feet. "We just might want to keep track of those ones."

"What scenes exactl- never mind, I think I know which ones you're referring to."

A soft chuckle was allowed to escape her as she followed after him; it was time for them to move on now… leaving this place behind them would be for the best. They got what they came for, there was nothing else here for them. Fingers reached gently forward and caught the loose material of his uniform before they slid forward and hooked her arm around his own. "We're going to have a hellva time discussing this whole matter with everyone else."

He tried not to seem to caught off-guard by the motion and only offered a matching chuckle in response. "Perhaps so but at least it will make for an interesting story… hopefully anyways."

"We've been the talk of the city for weeks now, might as well give them a reason for it."


	16. Flashback 1

**A/N: Alright, well the next few chapters are going to be flashback sequences that finally detail what happened. Gotta get through the boring stuff first before the fun starts though.**

"There have been some odd rumors circulating recently. A lot of reports have been coming in about entire villages being wiped out; no survivors. Normally, we wouldn't exactly get ourselves involved with this type of business but the rumors have been getting more and more violent. A few scouting teams were sent out to scan the reported areas for any kind of signs or clues that could identify what's going on, but they've only come back with nothing, with the exception of the last group… they didn't come back at all. We need someone who can go out there and figure out what's going on. All signs point to a well-leveled Hollow but as of now there is no evidence to back up that theory. I don't want to say don't come back without good news… unfortunately it's exactly what I want."

She listened carefully to his words and nodded as he told her exactly what he wanted of her. It was a rare occasion for Captain Yamamoto to make personal request of people; the fact that he specifically chose her for the mission brought just a little boost to her pride. She was well capable of bringing down even the largest threats to Soul Society. With her entire army of Special Ops, she had been well-trained to handle any kind of combat, so this situation should be no different. "I can assure you, Captain Yamamoto, should there be a Hollow present and is the cause for these reports, I will find it and I will kill it."

"That's why you were the first person I choose for this mission. Now, there will be other teams who will follow in after you, just in case any mishaps occur but… you will ultimately be leading this. If you would like to bring your Lieutenant along then feel freely to."

The thought of bringing that fat-ass with her put a bad shudder in her spine. "While I prefer to handle things by myself with the absence of a partner… I believe I will make a rather special request for this mission."

"I am listening."

She gave herself a few seconds to reconsider her thoughts before she settled on the answer. "I would like to request the help of Division Nine for this mission; I believe Captain Tousen will aid me greatly in tracking down this Hollow."

"If he is willing to assist you, then by all means feel free to becoming partners for this mission. Just remember, I expect for the both of you to be ready for deployment by dawn tomorrow."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

><p>"No."<p>

The words had barely finished coming from her lips before he interrupted her. She wrinkled her nose at his quick-to-no-hesitative answer and followed him as he moved to the other side of his office; putting away files for later reports. "I made a specific request for your assistance on this mission and you, of all people, should know that this is one of very rare times that I've actually pushed for that. So why won't you accompany me?"

"Because, Captain Soifon, I have things to do here; there is a lot of work that needs to be done and I can't just push it aside to go hunting." he replied.

"Hunting? Really? This thing has killed people, slaughtered entire villages and you want nothing to do with it?"

A long sigh passed his lips as he turned away from the work in hand to face her. "You're just using that as a persuasive excuse to convince me to join you; you really don't care for the damages that's been done. It was all outside of your jurisdiction, so why should you worry? Look… I appreciate the request and as much as I would love to help, there are things here that take priority over that right now. I apologize."

"Fine." she shrugged as she moved fingertips to brush aside her stiff bangs. "I'll just carry on this mission by myself… or I could ask for Captain Byakuya's assistance instead; I'm sure he'll be more willing to help."

"Okay, first off, he would count getting his hair done as being a priority over this; second, you would just complain about the entire thing when you returned."

She could sense the light tension in his voice and took note of the way his body seemed to stiffen at the words. "Are you actually complaining or… are you jealous?"

"Jealous of what?"

"I don't know, maybe the thought of the two of us being alone and completely isolated in the middle of nowhere. I mean, anything could happen."

He knew what she was doing and was fully aware of what she had pulled on him but at this point… there was no trying to deny the absolute disgust that came at the thought of Sixth Division Captain with her. Jealousy was not a word he would use but it was the only one that was fitting. For now. "… When are you departing tomorrow?"

"Captain Yamamoto wants us gone by dawn but we can leave earlier just the same, as long as we're working on solving this 'crisis.'"

"You see, when you say it like that, it sounds like you don't really care about this whole situation. To you, it's just another mission, another chance to kill something and be rewarded for it."

She frowned briefly at his remark and watched as he went back to reorganizing whatever it was that he had set aside earlier. "And? It's a Hollow. Nothing more, and nothing less. How many have we already encountered? How many have we already easily killed? The fact that this one has killed a few more people says nothing about it; in fact, I think it says more about the people than anything else."

"You mean the same people who really aren't expecting an attack from a Hollow in the first place?" he questioned as he pushed the filing cabinet drawer closed. "Yes, they had to have been unprepared and caught off-guard but believe it or not, we're still in charge of protecting a majority of this city- whether or not the people are inside or outside of our jurisdictions."

"Oh, save the talk for the travel." she snapped lightly in response. "I figured you could bore me then instead of now."

* * *

><p>The journey proved to be a bit longer and covered far more terrain than she had been originally informed of. The First Lieutenant had handed her a map of how to get to the location but she had barely glanced at it for a second time. It couldn't have been too far away if the reports had managed to reach them so quickly; although she was beginning to wonder if the Hollow had bothered to scavenge about in the mountains, then why the hell didn't it just come down to the city? Then again, maybe they were smarter than what she thought, or maybe they were just learning their lessons.<p>

"You're an evil woman, you know that?"

She glanced back at the remark for a moment and caught sight of him over one shoulder before she turned back to watch her own footing; their destination resided somewhere up the mountainside in front of them. "What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean."

Wrinkling her nose lightly, she paused for a moment to observe the two separate paths that laid before them; one tangled to the right while they other winded up the left. Quick thinking put them on the left-sided path for the sheer fact that it seemed as though it would get them to their location sooner; the sooner they got there, the sooner she could head back to her Division House. "I brought you along because your ability to sense other spiritual energy is far superior compared to mine; I thought you would be able to provide an excellent source of tracking."

Something in the tone of her voice seemed off-setting as he followed after her slightly-paused decision; he was going to merely assume that she knew where they were supposed to be going. Then again, knowing half of how the directional instinct functioned in some Captains, he supposed that wasn't the best assumption to make at the moment.

"You asked me to come along; that's different than saying you just 'brought' me along." he corrected; taking note of the slight rise in her energy, more than likely from irritation. "You wouldn't even admit my sense of tracking is better than yours if anyone else asked-"

"Are you going somewhere with this?" she snapped lightly.

"There's something else you want out of this."

She paused slightly in her steps; listening as he seemed to follow her in suit. "… Let's just focus on the mission for now."

The soft cracking of leaves and twigs breaking under foot signaled that she had continued on after her short pause. He could only shake his head behind her back as he continued on after her. Then again, he supposed it was stupid to think that she was really going to talk out loud about it; her solitary, cold-hearted mold refused to allow for such a 'weakness' to be clearly evident. He wasn't entirely sure how her mind functioned but it sure as hell seemed like it was broken most of the time.

* * *

><p>After a rigorous climb up along the mountainside, she supposed she should've been more relived when the ground leveled out and the thick tree line opened up to reveal the small village on the other side. Then again, the sheer simplicity of the scene almost made her sick to her stomach. Why would a Hollow even bother to waste its time here?<p>

"This place looks like fun." she muttered as her dark eyes looked around at the homemade lodges and homes that made use of the open clearing just before the mouth of the forest.

"Try to keep your thoughts to yourself." he replied as he stayed close to her side; picking up on the different energy waves from the forms closest to them. "And try not to make eye contact with anyone."

"Why?"

"Because they'll probably think you're going to steal their soul or something."

When no one was looking, she sank her fist into his side before she pushed herself a few steps ahead of him. "Maybe you're the one who people should be worried about."

"I highly doubt they'll think I'm staring at them."

"You wouldn't even know where to look, now would you?" she remarked as she glanced around the small village once more before she continued on towards what looked to be some kind of cultivated building. Pushing aside the doors, she barely noticed the people she shoved out of her way as she headed towards the front desk. A weary-looking clerk stood on the other side; glasses propped above his forehead as he sorted through a stack of papers. "You look like someone who could inform us of where the hell we are right now."

He glanced up towards her at the words. "Ah, let me guess, another scouting party?"

"Something like that. By that statement however, I'm going to assume we're in the correct area."

"Yes and no. We've heard the rumors about scouting parties in the neighboring areas and we figured it would only be a matter of time before they crossed this way." he started.

"Then you've heard about the killing sprees."

"Yes and quite frankly, we consider ourselves well prepared for any kind of 'attack' from this strange creature. But, if you came to share word about this creature then you might want to hit up the local bar and gossip with the people there; most of them are just passing through anyways, so they might be able to assist you in any kind of news."

She nodded slowly and looked around the room at the fair amount of people who seemed to enjoy merely wasting precious time. "Maybe later, right now we just want to be able to search the surrounding forest for any kind of energy residue."

"It'll be dark within the hour, perhaps it would be safer if you stayed in the local lodge for the night."

She didn't like it when someone else told her what to do or even gave her unwanted suggestions, but their trip had taken quite a bit of traveling and they were both tired whether they wanted to admit so or not. "Alright, sign us up then."

"Unfortunately, the only lodges we have available right now are single rooms. Will that be okay?"

"Not really but doesn't seem like I have any other choice."


	17. Flashback 2

**A/N: One day late on the update, sorry. As it turns out, what I thought was the finished piece of this chapter... actually wasn't, so I had to start all over. My apologies. **

Okay so neither of them were too entirely happy with the idea but they wouldn't be able to properly do their mission without obtaining some form of rest; she could tell her senses were dull in just the slightest sense but it was enough to give her reasonable doubt. She didn't know how he was feeling, nor did she really care too much for it.

"This place doesn't look too shabby." She remarked as she pushed aside the creaky door and peeked inside. For a small lodging building, the room wasn't too entirely abused- she had seen and stayed in far worst ones. Stepping carefully inside of the room, she listened to the equally squeaking floor that seemed to distaste for her added weight; and added even more distaste of his. "Not exactly what I imagined to be this far up."

"Same here." he agreed as he followed in after her; allowing for the door to slide tightly closed behind them. "However, as far as I'm concerned, after all that traveling we completed today, any room would be sufficient."

"I'll have to second that." she nodded as she finished her small evaluation of the room before she looked over to notice just the one bed pushed against the far wall. "I know he said they only had single rooms but I guess I made the assumption that they would've at least had the decency to put in another bed." the last part had been muttered more to herself as she set her hands on her hips and looked around once more. "Is that going to be a problem?"

"Only if you make it one." he reminded; already removing the band from his hair to allow the thick dreads to fall freely. "I think most of the people here already making… assumptions anyways."

She couldn't tell if she wanted to laugh or throw up at the remark; she wrinkled her nose at it regardless. "I think it would be best if I didn't make a comment on it."

"I would like to agree with that statement."

"… Although… it would really be a shame to waste it's purpose…"

Now that remark was enough to make him wonder the same question of whether to laugh or fake an illness at the words. "You know what, I think I'm going to take a quick shower- unless there's any kind of disagreement from the company."

"Go for it. I'd much rather not smell you." she retorted as she turned back to the window against one wall; facing back out into the small village. She faintly listened to the sound of him walking towards the back of the room and the faint click of the second door closing behind him. While it seemed like a waste of a day to give in so soon without so much as a minute of searching… it still felt like it was best. To be remarkably honest, she had been distracted this whole time.

Not by the rumors.

Or the environment.

Or even the lack of information for this mission.

Her main reason of distraction was the same one that was the cause for the sound of running water behind her.

Yeah, it made her sound like a hopeless and lost bitch but… things had gone so far downhill that she refused to have let it go that easily. Not to say that this thing between them had meant to be serious but she wasn't one to let go of a good fight; and damnit, he was one of the best she had in years. She loved a good challenge and this was one of those rare instances. Plus… there was just something different about him that she couldn't put her finger on. Something that she couldn't let go just yet.

Primarily, she was here on a mission; secondary, she was here on her own kind of mission as well.

She just wanted one, simple answer to this. If she could get one that was satisfyingly argued and proved, then that would be the end of it. Good or bad.

Stretching slightly, she pulled the thick curtains of the window closed and tied them together to prevent any kind of snooping- people in these local villages always seemed starved for some kind of gossip. She ran a hand through her hair and ruffled the black locks for a moment before she moved to remove the white jacket from her shoulders; folding it carefully, she tossed it onto the smooth surface of a nearby, hand-carved desk for the nightly keeping. While she hadn't originally intended to stay up here for too long, spending the night hadn't entirely crossed her mind; although she supposed there was really no harm in sleeping topless for the night. It wasn't like he was even going to notice.

She was halfway through pulling off the original uniform top to reveal her secondary one before she paused momentarily as the only other door in the room opened.

He had made short time of the shower but the slight flush of his skin proved that it had been long enough for him. Hands carefully tossed his jacket and uniform top over the back of a chair that had accompanied the desk.

"Didn't think to at least provided some sense of common courtesy?" she remarked; ignoring the mild distraction she found in his bare upper body and the fact the she was thinking of doing the same thing really.

"Well I figured you've seen more in less so it didn't really matter." he countered easily as he stepped around her.

Okay, so there was no arguing there- that much she would willingly admit. She turned to watch as he paused just long enough to give into a stretch before he took a seat on the edge of the bed; taking the moment to rub at the back of his neck. "So I'm thinking we could get a few hours of rest and then head out there for some night time investigation; I doubt the thing's nocturnal but I've never actually witnessed one sleep before."

"I was thinking instead of that, we could stay inside and talk this through." he replied. "Regardless of what you may think of me, I'm not stupid; I know there's a reason you invited me along with you on this mission. Given any chance to be solitary, you'll go with the lone man trail; you've even had missions arranged so you could go out on your own instead of moving with a party. That's how you work. There's no reason for why you would suddenly change that."

She wrinkled her nose momentarily as she stepped around to completely face him now. "If I recall correctly, I never actually called you stupid. Maybe ridiculous, absurd, inefficient, lazy- you get the point, but I highly doubt stupid actually left my lips. Now… as for this, it's a complicated manner, we're both aware of that; however, we've both been avoiding it for awhile now-"

"You've been avoiding it." he corrected. "I gave you my answers."

"I hardly doubt those were answers."

"And I hardly doubt dragging Captain Byakuya into this was really worth the effort."

The sharpness in his tone was almost appealing in an emotional sadistic kind of way. She had known well about his slight jealousy in the other male Captain whenever he was around her; she had merely played a game with it. Just to see how far she could push him and she pushed him quite a distance. "You gave me an answer, what else did you expect?"

"Well I didn't really expect for you to pull that kind of game into play."

"What did it matter? You said it was over."

For a moment, he wasn't entirely sure where the hell the conversation was supposed to go; he wasn't even sure what to say in response. Yeah, he said it was over because… it was just better that way. They had fallen to the bottom; it just felt like things weren't meant for the two of them.

"Because it wasn't going to work out… Maybe I caught onto that just a little too late but we're both aware of it now. Let's face it, things weren't supposed to have gone this far." She stepped back from her slightly lashed out stance with the words and took a moment to re-evaluate her settings. From her own perspective, he just… he looked exhausted. They were both tired of having to deal with this but she hadn't been happy with that first answer; if she had to fight tooth and nail to get one that she could accept… then so be it.

"I think we can both agree on that and… we can both agree it's because of our inability to let people go."

She narrowed her eyes at the words but let them give away. "Given no other reasons, I suppose that is the most likely one."

"And… I don't think either of us are really putting forth the effort for this." he continued slowly; trying to keep track of his words as the conversation only became more and more difficult. "I don't think we're ready to move on."

"It's been years."

"It has but do you really see either of us making a move to change that?"

In all honesty… no. There was a part of her that didn't want to make that kind of change; she had been comfortable in this current standing for so long… she wasn't sure how to move from it. But, part of her also refused to allow for herself to rot there. For once, in a long time, she had actually been 'happy' and for a moment, she was convinced it was because of him. She couldn't express that though; it was a weakness and she couldn't afford to show one.

"… Is this it then?"

"It doesn't have to be…"

"So what? We're just supposed to be miserable together?"

A long sigh escaped him as he touched briefly at the empty space between his eyes. "Well, when you put it that way, I guess there's really no other option here. I just want to get this out of our way and at least put it behind us. The last thing we need is yet another problem slowing us down."

She watched as he started to get up from where he was seated before she was quick to push him back; denying the motion. Hands rested momentarily on his shoulders as she stood there; not entirely sure of what to say or where to go with the words, she figured it was better than silence. "At times like these, sometimes I think I'd prefer to be miserable."

"Why?"

"Because at least it would be feeling something. The last few times I had ever gone this far with someone, it ended up worse. Not just because things turned bad but because I never really saw them again. To them, it was perfectly acceptable to get up and leave without so much as a trace; to willingly leave even if they knew what they were doing. They knew who they were leaving behind and frankly to say, I don't think they really gave a damn about it. So when you compare the two, I think it's evident why."

He knew well what she meant but… by some form, it didn't seem acceptable. "I don't want this to be out of some form of pity-"

"Since when in hell have I ever wanted pity?" she snapped carefully. "You of all people should know that that is the last thing I would ever want."

"Then I'm not entirely sure if you're even making sense."

She pressed her lips together in a short frown as she tried to put sense into the words in her head. "You said you thought you loved me before. If you meant it, then prove it."

"I don't think I'm the one who really has to prove anything right now."


	18. Flashback 3

**A/N: Pfft... I apologize for the late, late update. To be honest, I'm not really sure what happened. This was one chapter I really wanted to do and then I got here and... everything died for me. Inspiration and motivation just went flying out the window before I could close it. But I managed to finish the next few chapters though so those will be easily posted. All I have to say is that one chapter of a battle turned into an eleven page event and I'm not sure how. That might've also killed everything for me but it's all back on track now. Hopefully.  
>Also, uh well a lot of Sexual Content for this chapter. That's your warning.<strong>

"_I can't even believe we're having this argument."_

"_Then let's find an ending to it and get this over with." _

So this wasn't entirely the way he wanted to end the argument and he was almost certain it was curving down the wrong way of ending it. If anything, this was the worst possible way of solving out their issue but he supposed he couldn't exactly tell her otherwise- he wasn't exactly in the correct position of doing so.

There was the rush of heat that seemed to pass between their lips; between her hands against his skin.

It didn't seem to matter how harshly they both tried to convince themselves that this wasn't going to fix anything; this wasn't going to do any good for them. All it did was remind them of why they got into this mess in the first place. It had all been just… physical attraction and that urge that itched at fingertips every now and again. It was the only thing they were supposed to be. Yes, it seemed rather… shallow and inappropriate for people of their positions to do, but that's all they wanted. Just that conflict of warmth in flesh and the feel of tangled bed sheets in the morning; the heat of heavy pants and the sight of moonlit bare skin.

It was desperation sometimes.

Other times… it was too dangerous to try and properly explain or depict. There were those moments where it was a playful rush of touches and rough motions to forget about the day. Then there were moments where it was the opposite of that. It was the patience in listening to every soft gasp and in feeling every small shudder beneath the skin. The realization of how much he loved the soft knit of her fingers against the back of her neck; whether it was in mid-embrace or just for the sheer moment to do it. Her own realization was the enjoyment she took in the way he sometimes cradled her against his chest; the waking up and feeling his warm breath against her.

It was borderline shameless and almost embarrassing the way she caught herself falling more and more in step with him; falling more and more in place at his side. For a moment, she disregarded the shadows of her past that always loomed up to remind her of the last time she had let someone get that kind of control over her; the last time she willingly believed someone would stay at her side like she was doing now.

It was always enough for her to break that cycle every time.

And now the soft squeak of the mattress underneath her was enough to dismiss those doubts once more.

The conflict of touches between them eased down and eventually roughly dissolved.

"This has yet to prove anything."

"I don't know, I kind of like the mystery of it."

Fingertips traced down the curve of his jawline and he almost wanted to hate the way he fell into the motion; hate the way that that was all she had to do and he was on her side again. Previous arguments had been carelessly tossed aside as they both fell into the more… desirable choice. This is what they started out as. Just mere carriers for lust who wanted nothing more than broken strings and heated hands.

Things weren't meant to go this far in terms of emotional boundaries; perhaps this was supposed to be a sign that clearly marked those boundaries once more and reminded them of what was off-limits. Emotional reigns were cut; there was to be no dependence; no lingering expressions for something more, something deeper.

Maybe it just wasn't meant to go further than this. In some kind of… almost masochistic manner, they both seemed okay with that. Maybe it was for the best anyways; maybe it was just to end the fighting, after all, this was the easy way out of it.

What had once started out simplistically and tuned more to the physical aspect seemed to change within and underneath every fingertip.

Her breathing picked up as he pushed her back into the soft mattress of the bed beneath them and grabbed at her lips with his own. She shifted slightly underneath him as she gave into the back tilt of her head to press against the pillows; hands moved to cradle the back of his neck as she forced him closer into the embrace. It was an overwhelming, erotic sensation as his tongue split apart her lips and entered her. A low moan escaped her at the overpowering flood of different tastes as she almost eagerly wanted to greet him and draw him into the same euphoric state her mind was caught up in.

Just that seemingly simple, yet sinful touch was all it took to send her back to their previous argument. If it meant have this, having him just to herself… dependency seemed more and more appealing.

Bare hands ran over the front of her uniform as if to tempt and remind her what it was like to have that familiar skin pressed into her own. Fingers lightly tugged the material loose from her white sash before they pulled it completely free. The black material seemed to peel itself aside to reveal the pale, hardened flesh of her abdomen underneath; a faint shudder seemed to course along her spine as she felt the way he held no hesitation in exploring the new skin for himself. Fingertips pressed a bit more forcibly into the back of his neck as her uniform was slid further and further up along her body before it moved to exposed a greater part of her torso. There was almost an agonizing satisfaction as the cool air rushed to grace over her uncovered breasts; playing the greater villain against her bare nipples.

Hands dropped back to the bed space beneath her as she forced herself up against him; cueing him in to move back as she pushed herself into enough of a balancing sitting position. Her own fingers tucked underneath the bundled hem of her top before she peeled it from her body; caring less and less about where it landed as she tossed it aside the moment it became irrelevant to her. The strip lead to a momentary dissolution of their lingering embrace. But the following feel of his warm lips pressed against the curve of her shoulder was enough to make up for the loss. His hands moved to balance her perfectly in her given position as he shifted just enough to readjust his own; the arch of her spine seemed to fit perfectly in his palms as she let her head fall back at the brush of his touch against the curve of her throat.

It was that persistent brush of his touch as he followed the center line down the front of her body; a line that only seemed fitting to be followed with the tip of his tongue. Fingers moved to curl against his broad shoulders as she felt him push that same burning touch into the dip of her chest. His hands fell along the shape of her spine as her body seemed to move with his descending touch.

The coarse sheets underneath moved to caress her spoiled skin as his lips fell to brush the curve of her abdomen. She felt the way his hands moved to lightly grip at her slender hips; sliding their way underneath the thin material of her sash to push it further down before they find a suitable holding place. Legs moved to lightly hook themselves over his shoulders; knees cradling the thick curves while her bare heels pressed into the thick skin of his back. Hands moved to support herself once more as she curved herself up to follow with his touch. She always had a perfectly disciplined sense of timing as she waited before she launched a lightly forceful twist that put herself on top once more. Although it left her lower legs partly pinned underneath him, she managed to hold part of his upper body between her knees.

Personally it was one of her favorite tricks.

Hands moved to free themselves from her hips before he picked himself up just enough to free her legs from beneath him; there was little hesitation as he touched at one thigh before he pushed it back just enough to slide her knee out from beneath- eradicating her support. She partly fell down towards him but managed to catch herself on the flat of her forearms; eliminating the all too thick space between them down to just mere inches instead.

"That's my favorite trick of yours."

She felt the heat of his breath against her ribcage with every word. "It was mine too until you figured out how to solve it."

Hands moved to grasp at her body as he pulled her down through those remaining inches. She remembered feeling the way he touched at the curve of her chest once more before a rush of heat moved to batter her nerves as his lips graced the surface of her perk. It was a partially stuttered gasp as one hand moved to cradle the back of her neck as he pulled her in just a tad bit closer; the warmth of his tongue surrounded the soft tissue and gave away to the aching nerves just beneath the surface. Her back seemed to arch into his body and against his chest as separate fingertips moved down along her abdomen to skim the flushed skin all the way to the lower curve of her stomach. All it seemed to take was a few gentle tugs and the material of her sash came unraveling downward.

Despite that unsentimental, disciplined ego that had hardened her to the point of being insatiable, she could feel herself giving in more and more with every touch. Every brush of his tongue, every delicate press of fingertips into the curve of her spine; the guilty pleasure of fingers that moved to push aside her remaining uniform piece and tangle in the empty space between her legs. He always knew how to break her down piece by piece; inch by painstaking inch till nothing more that withered gasps remained. Even if it meant playing a role more suitable for a victim, she never bothered to stop him from playing his own passive-aggressive piece.

There was a moment completely dominated by the rush of her heavy pants and the light, barely vocal moans that almost had to force themselves from her throat. That rush of heat that collided between his fingers and her more sensible region was enough to push her over the edge and allow for her to give in to those reactions. Even with countless lovers in the past, many of them balancing on both ends of the playing field, this one… he made a difference.

It was his own movement that pushed her back into the comfort of the stiff mattress underneath; his touches parting just briefly. She grasped lightly and pulled him in towards her again; this time sealing his lips against her own as a cruel sense of desperation forced her to reach out for him. Every embrace came unevenly as they merely seemed to find more enjoyment in finding the quickest way to settle one; lips almost just sliding against one another as it blurred the line between an open or closed embrace.

Hands moved to push clothing from hips as she felt more and more skin becoming bare by the second; the careful slide of her uniform as it trailed off the curves of her legs and slipped off the edge of the bed was hardly noticed as his warm touch seemed eager to replace the former material.

It was a mix of hands and touches that seemed rushed to feel any and every piece of available skin; her hands tangling themselves in the material of his uniform before she repeated his same method to rid the fabric and have it dress the floor instead. Fingertips acted as though they had never touched rivaling flesh before as they moved to scope out every single contour and curve she could get in reach. It was in that tangled moment of embraces; the tangled moment of bodies and limbs; the single tangled moment that hung them further and further over the line they had once opted to never cross again.

It was the occasional glimpse of the white of his eyes; even if they couldn't physically see her, she was more addicted to just the catching hint of them in this quickly turning event. Hands pushed to cup the curve of his jawline as she merely hovered their lips against one another; feeling the gentle ease of different breathing patterns between them.

"I give up…"

The words were lightly gasped and seemed to whisper themselves back against his tongue as though to urge the deeper meaning to them; to press the subject she had fought to avoid and fell to but wouldn't allow for herself to say.

"I do too."

His sealed response was all she needed to hear.

She gave into the feel of his hands as they moved to caress her body.

Fingertips burning into her skin as he seemed to cradle her against his chest; pressing into her spine as she seemed easily nestled in his arms. The craving for something deeper than flesh almost seemed satisfied as her fingers traced down the curve of his jaw line and coaxed him into another embrace. The words from before and any sense of wanting to speak sealed itself into silence behind embraced lips. Her fingers knitted lightly over the back of his neck as she moved to support every motion that would follow between them; eventually giving in as the curve of her forearms crossed and bounded themselves over the same strip of flesh.

There was a sense of surrendering as they both forfeited into the contact of skin; surrendering into some kind of unspoken truth that had been so bitterly damaging before.

She let him draw her up as the embrace only seemed to deepen the more she put thought into it; the more she remembered how much she enjoyed the way he tasted; the way his tongue moved inside of her. There was that shudder in his skin as bare fingertips traced their way over his body; embracing every contour and curve that outlined and sculpted the figure she had fallen far too deep into. It was hard to imagine that any time before this had been ruled completely as a question of lust, or passion; lawful desire or wrongful craving. Those few instances that had pushed those boundaries had been pushed aside and nervously laughed at, but now with the heat of his body pressed so tightly against her own and the soothing embrace of his hands against her flesh… it didn't matter.

All that mattered was the tangled mess of sheets that could barely conceal their yen-starved bodies, their sweat-laced flesh. The twist of fingers locked in hair as lips gasped in opposite directions; she gave breath to the ceiling above them as he released a wave of hot air to pool into the empty dip of her nape.

The ceiling seemed to be craving more as she was all the more moved to appease it. Her body wrecked with the sensation of him; the mix of forces and motions that made them one in that solid moment. The shift of her hips to balance out the tension that conquered her so heavily every breath felt as though it had to be forced from her chest. His hands moved to gentle cradle her waist and ease her into a more suitable position. Fingers gripped harshly together for that one sheer moment before they relaxed in a shaky release of conflict.

It was the rhythmic movement between them as he was careful in the way of handling the first starts of their lust-starved expression. She panted as the feel of him inside of her continued to boil the fluid around her spine and attempt to leave her breathless with each differing penetration. Every soft caress that followed was enough to stir that ever wandering and sometimes loss sense she had long since ignored.

The sense of wanting to give in to the way he made her feel more and more like a woman in the tortured skin she carried.

Her pale thighs almost seemed odd as they cradled his darker hips and slightly adjusted the suitable angle between them.

Her lungs were burning with every gasp and pant he forced from her chest; his body made her own curl and arch with the deep movements he put inside of her. The tips of her fingernails moved to press harshly into the back of his neck and into the curve of one shoulder as she moved herself in time with him. Her hips pressed back against his as he released his own slur of groans at the counteracting contact; the light contact of her hips as they grinded up into his own Fingers curled into her spine as legs moved to cross ankles over the small of his back; pulling his hips closer to her own and forcing every motion to bring on a force of skin. Every new movement seemed to bring on a lustful kind of torture to the nerves that settled beneath their flesh; working every sensor till every system was flooded itself with euphoria.

He gave life of ecstasy to the brush of lips he brought to her flushed skin.

Lips could barely keep in touch as their mix of pants and gasps seemed to involve into its own small chorus of moans; lightly bitten lips tried to keep the reactions low and leave them to only echo between their two bodies. In a few rare instances, sometimes their voices got a little loud, sometimes their energy got a little too unstable. Each time only seemed to becoming more and more engaging and more exhilarating as the overall situation lead to the heavy temptation. This was all the more appropriate setting for them after all; almost complete isolation from the world they had once known- merely surrounded by a few strangers who were more than likely unable to even pick up on the occasional outburst of energy.

There was almost a cold satisfaction when it was over. The tension had been relieved but desire still ran strong in radiated heartbeats; heated and battered skin was all the more wanting and prepared for a round two- for another chance to feel conflict and embrace all in one. But… for this one moment, it was easily decided that it would've been best to ignore those urges. At least for now. They could still be picked up later on.

A long, partly exhausted sigh left her as she stretched her arms out before she let them come to a rest against his broad chest; her head softly tucked into the curve of his shoulder as she took in the comforting heat that radiated from his skin.

"When we get back to the city, not a word of this gets mentioned."

"You have my vote." he replied; bring his hands to rest on the smooth curve of her lower back. "I don't think the report needs that many details in it anyways."

"They don't need to know every-" she started; stopping herself in mid-sentence. It took a moment before she slowly pushed herself away from him for the given second. Something… something caught her attention just a few seconds ago. Something… it sounded like a scream maybe? She glanced back to him as he seemed to follow her suit and sit up just the same; her attention shifting back to the covered window just a few feet from them. "… Did you hear that?"

"Yeah…"

It was the agreement of movement as they both resumed their given mission and gathered the pieces of their uniforms once more; slipping into them with quick fingers and nimble motions. She quickly gathered her sword from where it had been tossed aside onto a desk before she headed out to investigate the noise; part of her assuming it might've just been some kind of… village prank. And if it was, she was going to make the perpetrator wish that the Hollow would show up instead.

All it took was just a few steps outside before the air itself seemed wrong.

The limp forms of bodies were scattered across the village terrain in front of her; partial faces frozen in agonizing screams. Blood coated across torsos as several limbs seemed to have been bent completely out of shape. The ground beneath each body was already darkened and stained with the crimson fluid that almost appeared to have been drained from the collapsed forms.

They had just reacted… they had just heard the screams… how could they have missed everything?

How could this much damage happen in such a short time span?

"How the hell did this happen?"

He didn't have to linger long on her question; the empty sense of energy around them was enough to answer it for him. The eerie creak of broken buildings seemed to echo around them to practically highlight all the given damages. But again… something wasn't settling correctly. All it took was just a mere flash of energy, the smallest hint at something moving and he watched as another form seemed to flicker to his attention.

"Over there."

She glanced up at the words and caught the slightest flicker of movement on the other side of the village; for a brief moment, a massive body came into view for her. In just a mere second, it looked to be the ugliest thing she had seen in a long time as it broke its own path through the only other remaining building in the village before it turned back in their direction. Fingers tightened on the hilt of her sword at the contact before she watched as it darted off into the forest instead of engaging.

So instead of conflict, it merely got what it wanted and was now running away from them.

Not in hell.


	19. Flashback 4

**A/N: Fight scenes, my favorite. I'm going to go ahead and note that this particular fight will last about three chapters so try and hang in there; believe me, I know they're boring. **

Breaking her way through the thick forest path, she searched high and low for any signs of the creature; it still felt like it was there in the air but she had yet to even spot it yet. She was positive they had witnessed it rush in here and yet… there wasn't even a trace of it around them.

"Where the hell did it go?"

Following several feet behind her, he could hear her voice practically echo around the empty forest surrounding them. Not a single trace of energy aside from hers graced his detection; there was no way an entire forest could've been this still- especially not at night. That meant that 'Hollow' had to been through here and either scared away or killed whatever had remained in its path. "It couldn't have gotten that far…"

She glanced back at his remark; taking sharp notice that he barely seemed to even be concentrating on what was going on. At first, she wanted to curse at him, but it almost looked as if he was distracted by something around them… or the lack of. Shaking her head, she went back to trailing her away along the small clearing trail. It was impossible for that thing to have gotten away from them! She was moving far too quickly for it to just… disappear like that. Kicking off of another tree, she landed easily on an overhanging branch in some false hope that the extra height would give her more insight of what was around them. She was almost blind in the darkness though. "That's impossible… how could it have gotten away? You saw how big that thing was; it couldn't have moved that fast."

Bringing himself to a short pause a few feet behind her trail, he took a long moment to scope out the area around them. Still nothing. "It was too large to just evade our senses like that. I should've been able to pick up on it's energy by now…"

"This puts us in a rough predicament." she started. "We couldn't have let it get away like that; it has to still be here somewhere."

"We should've run into some environmental damage by now but-"

An ear-splitting pierce shriek echoed behind them as the ground itself seemed to shake its way out from under foot. Fingers made quick to grasp at swords as they turned back to confront the creature; watching and listening as its massive body ripped the aged oaks from their roots in its surged warpath towards them.

A sharp frown cursed her lips as she caught hold of the creature's plans.

While they thought they were chasing the creature further inward… it had been the Hollow chasing them this entire time.

Massive arms drug it's even larger, bloated body along the forest ground; the three fingers that came at the end of the arms were pointed and ripped up the dirt with every step and drag. What seemed to be the head portion of it, or rather face or maybe even the lack of one, was pressed back into the body with a lower jaw jutted outward. Teeth curved out from behind its shredded lips before back in to create a hook-like illusion and silhouette. Massive eyes lined the top of the back, most of the ranging from different sizes but she was almost certain some of them were larger than herself.

To be frank, she had never seen something as ugly as that before.

Another shriek ripped open the creature's massive mouth to reveal even more jagged teeth; the force of its scream seemed to resemble that of a banshee as it forced air to whip almost painfully at their bodies. An immense amount of energy ripped itself free from the creature's body and radiated the surrounding area with a heavy, suffocating cloud of it.

The sheer amount of energy that appeared before him was almost painful as it seemed to burn through his senses and render him momentarily disabled.

"That is one, ugly ass motherfucker." she muttered; watching as its mouth pulled open even more to reveal the eyeballs that lined the inside of its mouth as well. The overall image of the creature was enough to make her cringe and almost hurl all at once. Despite her long years of experience in these sightings, she had never spotted one this hideous before.

She winced as the pitch of its shriek seemed to pierce into her ears till she was almost certain her eardrums were on the verge of collapsing. One foot slid partially back before she pushed herself from the ground and propelled backwards up into the treetops; managing to land somewhat successfully on one of the overhanging branches. "How can it move that fast at that size?"

"I don't know but something about this one doesn't seem right." he replied; landing on a branch just a few yards from her.

"I was hoping I wasn't the only one who noticed that." she muttered as she looked back towards the creature. It certainly was ugly but with that massive size it shouldn't be too difficult to take out. "If you can create a distraction for it, I should be able to nail it with my Shikia."

"Already using it so soon into battle?" he questioned.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I would like to get this whole thing over with as soon as possible." she remarked sharply.

He shook his head at her response but it seemed like a fairly suitable plan. He took a quick study of what could be made from the surroundings before he dropped back to the ground below. It didn't take long before the Hollow seemed to track his movement and raced towards him. Standing back, he waited for the perfect distance before he pulled his sword free and spun it between his fingers. The lingering cue was the beginning shriek of the Hollow before he counteracted it with an even higher-pitched noise.

She winced slightly as the noise from his attack seemed to affect her as well. Doing her best to shake it aside, she pushed herself from the branch under foot and leaped over onto the Hollow instead; feeling a rush of energy as her sword dissolved and reformed itself around her left arm. The body was soft upon impact as she slid across its lumpy form before she found her footing once more. The tip of her stinger tore easily through its flesh and formed the familiar butterfly-like burn that signaled a concluded death.

But dark eyes watched as the black tattoo almost instantly dissipated after contact.

That wasn't… that wasn't supposed to happen…

How could it have gotten rid of the mark?

The feel of the body shaking underneath her nearly forced her to lose her balance before she leaped back into the nearby tree line; dissolving her shikia back into sword form, she jumped back towards the ground and landed just a few yards short behind him.

"Plans didn't go through?" he remarked as he stepped back before letting his sword fall still; ending the rather piercing frequency battle between them.

"Something's wrong with this thing; it somehow… managed to distill my poison or something. I couldn't even get a mark to stay in place." she answered. "Looks like we're just going to have to rip this thing a new one."

"Very well then."

Rushing forward, she watched as he stepped back to allow for her to take his place.

In those two seconds of delay between their switching positions, something went wrong. He felt a surge of energy leave the thing as its overall form seemed to shift. She watched as the massive creature reared back slightly to reveal the rib-like structures that completely covered it's sensitive neck in a protective brace; a crackling of bone shook through each rib before they peeled themselves away from the sickly colored skin. In her defense, she thought the thing was stupid enough to reveal a weakness…

She was wrong.

It was like a hundred tiny, blade-like arms protruded from the creature; each one throbbing for the heat and lust of battle. Each one arched back as the Hollow seemed more and more prepared for the battle; more prepared than they were.

It was at that moment, she realized that she had mistakenly placed herself right in the dead center of it. Quick reflexes shattered the first few arms that shot forward towards her as the sharp side of her sword effortlessly split aside the bone; dressing and showering itself in the thick, mucus-like blood that erupted from the broken limbs. It was almost distracting as the thick liquid seemed to stick to her blade and make it heavier in her touch. By the time she noticed the small group of them that managed to swoop underneath her sword, it was already too late; there was a rush of heat as two of the bladed-arms impaled through her sides- shredding her flesh easily. Another rush brought two more as they smashed into the side of her head; sending a powerful and painful ringing throughout her skull. In the heat of the battle and the struggle to get herself free, she twisted her body to fight them off; finding herself screaming as every bit of movement caused for the impaled arms to rip into her flesh even more.

"Soifon!"

Dark eyes caught sight of a fifth blade just as it appeared above her; eyes widening slightly as it brought itself down sharply. It was another rush of pain as the sharpened blade easily split open her forehead before it peeled back. Every motion was almost too quick to even recognize the difference between each strike aside from the force of heat that each on left. Each strike hit harder than the last and she could feel them rip open the flesh of her forehead and penetrate to the bone underneath; scraping turned into cracking as she could feel it proceed to break open her skull as best it could. White flashes crossed through her eyesight with every hit; each flashes becoming stronger than the last.

Blood coated her face and bled into her eyes as hands fought to free herself from its grasp before it could pierce deeper into that last one-hit kill. She could feel her fingers becoming bloodied by the touch of the blades that held her tightly in place despite her given strength to get loose; the sharpened edge almost certain to slice through her fingers with the continuous struggling.

He couldn't understand why it took him so long to respond; had he hesitated or was the creature moving faster than he could comprehend? It didn't matter. He had to get her out of there- that was his priority.

His sword repeated the same actions her own had done before as he sliced his way through the rib-like arms; listening to the semi-satisfying cracks as the boney appendages splintered apart. Breaking his way through the immense crowd, he paused for just several brief seconds as he drew back before he let his sword fly from his grasp; certain of its perfect rotation and disc-like motions as it split through every obstacle in its way.

There was a crack as the attacking blade was severed.

Pushing himself through the crowd, he managed to catch her in one arm just as he rushed by; the extra weight against him was almost comforting as he pulled her from its grasp and separated them completely from the blood-thirsty blades. Putting easy distance between them, he felt himself holding her almost too tightly and too closely as she struggled briefly before he released her.

Fingers carefully raised and gingerly touched at the fresh split flesh; wincing at the raw, jagged cut that had pierced downward towards her skull. She tried to wipe some of the blood off on her sleeve to clear her vision once more; turning back to see the now fully-raged Hollow. "Change of plans… no close-range combat."

"I think I can agree to that." he nodded. "What is this thing?"

"I don't know… I don't think we've ever encountered something like this before." she started; watching as it dragged itself closer towards them. "I'll distract it, you get your sword."

"Are you sure-"

"You're going to need it!"

That seemed like the drawing line as he sensed her already rush back into battle to do her part. Now was just the work of doing his. After releasing it into flight, he knew that he heard the sword impale into the trunk of a tree, which was easy enough for him; at least it didn't land on the ground. The difficult part was trying to get there without it first.

Maybe it was the mild sense of head trauma that brought her back into the reach of the Hollow; or maybe it was the need to have a partner on site with her. As long as she could keep it preoccupied with her, then there wouldn't be any problems for him- but as of now, she already had a feeling that it wasn't going to work. She tried to put the thoughts aside as she carved her blade through the mess of arms once more; watching as slashed limbs flew off in all directions. If they could disable it, then that gave them back their advantage. If it was possible, she was going to cut off every arm and limb that got in the path of her sword. She briefly spotted him in the corner of her eye as he moved along the tree tops before he dropped down quickly and managed to snag his blade from where it had been impaled into the bark of a tree. He achieved it quicker than she thought, which was a good thing.

Slicing through one more round of arms, she kicked herself back to put space between them; watching as some of the arms ripped forward and seemed to pass her by in hyperextension. It only took her seconds to realize what it was aiming for and leaped up just in time to avoid the arms as they snapped back; intended to pass her by to achieve both a distraction and a possible back shot. The curve of one of the arms caught one of the gold rings that decorated the end of her long braid and jerked it towards the creature; pulling her off her feet from the force it used. The quick collision with the ground was enough to bring attention back to her still open head wound and white out her vision for several seconds. That's when she felt it dragging her along the ground by the gold ring alone. She pulled back which only put strain on the braid and give off the impression of quick scalping; without a second of hesitation, she swung her sword back and amputated the braid. The arm snapped back and she pushed herself from the ground; speed didn't seem to be on her side this time as another bladed-appendage snapped against her side and hit her with a force that had yet to be experienced.

It was harsh enough to slam her into the nearest tree and black out her vision this time.

Unsettled eyes struggled to even blink as she tried to regain her eyesight back; black spots clouded the edges as the collision left her momentarily immobilized with pain. Hands fumbled to find a steady placement against the bark as she forced herself away from the small crater she had created. Shaking her head, she listened to the piercing shriek from the Hollow and looked up in time to see him pull its attention away from her. The tiny, blade-like arms that littered it's open chest were snaked back in preparation for attack before they sprung forward towards him.

He could barely give himself enough time or space to avoid every single strike.

He could hear the break in the air of each arm as they darted in his direction; his sword cut through the first wave and battered the secondary ones in mid-launch. It didn't take long before one of the bladed arms caught up to him; he felt the blade impale itself through his forearm before it continued on into his chest. Pushing aside the heated pain, he barely had time to forcibly rip himself free before the rest of the arms caught up. One of the blades embedded itself in through his left shin before it ripped upward and punctured the back of his knee; it jerked forward and pulled his leg with it.

His body hit the ground with a painful thud before the blades were on him once more.

One of the arms relocated itself to bury into his left side; painfully pinning part of him into the ground. A second one scraped into the thin flesh of his right hip and dug deep into the twist of tissue and muscle. Quick reflexes just barely managed to dodge a third blade that had been aiming for his head and instead cut through several of his dreads instead. The rush of movement left him partly breathless as he could feel the blood rushing from the open wounds; the slightest twitch of motion was painful enough as it persuaded the blades to twist themselves in deeper.

Pushing herself into the battle, she drew her sword back in anticipation before letting it loose on the blades that redirected themselves towards her. She showed no mercy in severing and amputating any and all that came within sword reach of her. A quick uppercut left her vulnerable for a split second, but that was all it needed. Just when it looked like the Hollow was running low on expendable limbs, she watched as two more erupted from the side and rushed towards her. The empty space between her ribs was invaded as one of the blades severed through the area. A second one went down before it curved back up and splintered through the soft tissue of her left breast; the sharpened end pierced through the bottom and ripped itself clear through the round top.  
>Words could not describe that kind of pain.<p>

The edge of her sword sliced through the limbs easily before she pushed herself off to reduce the chance of any more of them getting to her; leaving the severed ends to remain caught in her flesh. Sliding back out of reach, she had fingertips barely pressed against the remaining arm that stuck out from her chest; gritting her teeth, she ripped it free and threw the severed limb away in pained frustration.

She looked back up in time to see him rip himself free from the pinned position; although not without the agonizing pain of ripping flesh and muscle in the process. Rolling off to the side, he was barely able to get back to his feet before several arms struck him in the side and sent him cratering into the ground a few yards away.

The sharp collision with the ground was only emphasized with the sharp crack that splintered from his left arm; he was almost certain that the human elbow wasn't meant to bend that way naturally.

"How are you holding up?"

Her question almost seemed comical as he pushed himself to his feet. As painfully regretful as it was going to be, he snapped the bone back into place and tried to suppress the outward expression of the sharp pain that flooded through the limb. "To be honest, I'm not entirely sure how to answer that…"

"I feel you there."

"We're definitely going to have to rethink our strategy here."


	20. Flashback 5

She watched as he tended to his recently reset arm before she turned back to the Hollow, who only seemed to stare at them with an eerie grin. "It can regenerate it's limbs. What kind of Hollow at this stage can produce massive regeneration like that?"

"I think it's fairly safe to assume that we're not dealing with an ordinary Hollow here." he remarked.

"Fucking Hollows."

He could sense her frustration in the two words and, quite honestly, he could probably relate to that emotion. "Should we give it another round?"

"We should keep at it until we can figure out what the hell it's weakness is." she started. "Although, we'll practically be running ourselves into a death trap here."

"There's little else we can do right now."

He had a point.

Every resulting rush followed the same routine. They sliced their way through the bladed appendages and did their best to avoid further injuries; the last part usually failed as she found herself gaining more and more injuries along her arms that brought them to the point of nearly being skinned. He wasn't having an easier time as the bladed arms tore across his back and left massive rips in his uniform; hers was torn just the same and she was beginning to wonder if it was even going to be decent by the time this battle was over.

They had it down to maybe ten arms.

Her sword slicing off three more while he managed to amputate five of them in a single swing.

All it took was like the push of a button and what seemed like hundreds more erupted from the Hollow's skin; leaving them outnumbered far too heavily to try and re-counter. She had always prided herself on conquering the field during battle but this time… she knew when the timing came to fall into retreat. That time was now.

Forcing through what seemed to be a wall of blades, she stepped back and slid away from further contact. A quick glance proved that he wasn't entirely as fast as she was.

Two of the arms embedded themselves in through his lower stomach. They didn't impale out through his back or even rip up into his chest; they hooked into his abdomen and shredded his insides at the first chance. His sword sliced them apart easily before he escaped back to her side; his free hand barely hovering over the open wounds as he tried not to give into the rush of blood that spilled from his lips.

"… Kaname…"

"It's fine." he tried to assure. "It's just momentary."

"I don't see how." she started; stopping herself only when she figured the argument would be useless to continue. "Let's just-" a sharp spike in countering energy and a loud shriek interrupted her as she turned back to the creature. Her eyes widened slightly as she watched the thing seemingly surge with energy before it charge towards them. "Shit, shit, shit."

Fingers grasped onto the loose material of his uniform before they both shot backwards away from the creature; watching as it reached out with its stubbed fingers and elongated limb to grasp at the empty air that had once held them.

"What the fuck was that?"

"Hell if I knew." she remarked in response. "Not sure if I want to know actually."

He took note that its energy was surged past most… normal levels; the affect of it was almost painful really. Pushing aside the lingering sense of pain, he straightened himself up slightly and watched as the Hollow seemed to merely be testing them. Something about it wasn't settling well…

All it took was one flicker of motion from the thing and she pushed herself from the ground and into the tree tops above. Wherever the hell that thing managed to get that kind of energy level… she didn't want to be on the receiving end of it.

"I don't know what the hell that thing's planning but-" she started; turning to where she had assumed he would've been, only to noticed that he had yet to follow her motion.

And like a flip of a switch, it's energy disappeared from him once more; leaving him completely in the dark in the midst of the battle. It was like a cold panic drifted through his body as the realization of the sheer vulnerable it left him in caught up to his attention. For a moment, he thought he heard her shout something before the sharp crack of the ground falling apart turned him away from her; turning him towards whatever had caused the new source of noise.

At first, he couldn't exactly render anything.

Seconds later, it was like a rush of things went roaring through his mind.

The sheer weight that struck him forced him to listen to the fracturing crack of his sternum, followed by the sharp breaks of every rib down his right side; the split of his shoulder as it completely separated from its socket and the clear snap of his collarbone as it threatened to tear out of his skin. It took only seconds for the breaks to occur before the follow up momentum sent him airborne for several yards.

There was a snap of the spine as his abrupt end followed with the collision into an upturned boulder; the shatter of his skull echoed briefly afterwards as he felt himself drop to the ground. Any sense of consciousness died away despite his best efforts to keep himself awake.

It was like a fracture of a second and that was all it took for the Hollow to gain the upper hand. She could feel it seal its energy at the last minute and ultimately leave him blind in the battlefield. All it took was for it to raise one leg and ultimately smash it into the Ninth Captain. It was like a blink of the eye and she felt herself cringe as there was a definite crack as he collided with one of the numerous boulders that encircled their battle ground; her stomach seemed to sink as she watched him collapse nearly lifelessly to the ground.

The sheer uncertainty of it left her unable to call out to him as she pushed herself from the branch she had leaped to to escape the Hollow's reach. Within seconds, she felt one of its bladed arms rip through her leg and drag her back down to the ground. The strike against the hard forest floor was almost more painful than the sword embedded in her flesh as she twisted herself free from the creature's arm; shielding herself as several more impaled down below her. She pushed herself from the ground and forced herself into a small roll to avoid even more before she pushed up to get to her feet; a hot streak of pain sliced down along her spine to bring her back to her knees. A rush of blood hinted that it had managed to snag her uniform and rip through her flesh as easily as paper. A second strike deepened the hit and forced apart the muscles that had formed the structure of her back; slicing the strands and tissues apart till she was almost certain the white of her spine could be seen. Withdrawing her sword once more, she turned in time to catch the next group of bladed arms before giving herself the chance to put some distance between them and her. Her feet seemed to stumble underneath her as the leg wound hindered any fast-pace moving; the pain of her damaged spine flooded her vision with a mix of white and black spots as she struggled to keep her eyesight clear.

She pushed herself to keep her footing and refused to let her vision fail her as fingers tightened their already tired grasp on her sword. He was out for now… hopefully not dead, which meant she had to keep this battle going till he could join her again. If it meant she had to take herself to the brink of death and back again, then so be it. It wouldn't be the first time.

Resettling herself, she rushed back forward and weaved through the different cuts of arms; feeling the heavy slices her own sword gave in advance and listening to the rush of broken limbs as they splintered off around her. She twisted her body through each assault and managed to dodge her way through a majority of the strikes; managing only soft cuts along her sides when they had intended to impale through her body. Breaking through its thick wall of defense, she purposely put herself into the heart of danger as she rushed closer and closer towards the soft body of the Hollow. Cracking down the last of the arms that stood in her way, she hastily ran forward and sank her blade into the flesh of the body; listening to the heavy shriek that followed afterwards. She spared no expense as she sank her blade in as deeply as she could before tearing the thing's chest wide open; finding some satisfaction in watching the dark liquid seep its way out and splash against the ground at her feet.

It was sharply followed by the sound of her own flesh ripping as two of its arms impaled through her back and tore free just above the curve of her pelvis bone. The next motion was clean as the arms dragged her back before they slammed her into the ground; forcing her to feel the hot rush of pain as they purposely landed her on the new gaping holes in her back. She had little time to focus on the pain as two more arms were sentenced on her; the curve of their blades found easy access underneath her ribcage and jutted upward to tangle themselves beneath her sternum. Blood flooded freely from her lips as she felt herself being lifted off the ground once more; hands grasped at the boney appendages to try and loosen the tension off her shattering ribcage.

Before she knew it, she was more than a few yards off the ground; supported solely by the arms impaled in her chest. Her blurred vision caught sight of the multiple eyes glaring back at her as it lifted her up to level.

A brief frown caught the corner of her lips as more blood forced itself from her mouth. "You really are a lot uglier than I imagined…"

Pain flooded through every possible limb, every fingertip and through every working sensor of his brain; flooding his entire body with the immobilizing agony that begged him to give up. Bones cracked as the smallest movement forced them to move around in the already torn membrane lining that had once held them in place. Every breath came with a rush of blood as his shattered ribs seemed to float about in his chest; almost threatening to impale his lung at the wrong move. Despite the near numbness that conquered his right arm, and the mild severity of the separated joints… he couldn't allow for it to continue right now. Going against his better judgment, he grasped the dismounted shoulder and waited for a moment to regain his strength before he forced the joint back into its place. Hot pain flashed down to his fingertips and across his chest; leaving bloodied pants to leave his lips… but it was done.

Forcing himself to his feet, he felt himself weaving back in and out of focus as the faint readings around him blurred and smeared out of sight. The sound of a faint voice caught his attention as he turned to try and locate her; catching the sight of her partly lifted in mid-air. The thing had her; he couldn't let it maintain that control. Every nerve seemed to be caught up on the pain but he pushed himself to focus and move back into the field.

Struggling was useless as she felt her strength draining with every drop of blood that escaped her; her palms were nearly skinned as they tried to maintain a holding on the appendages; blood forcing her fingers to slip on the grasp and send her into more spine-shattering pain as the drop of support peeled back her ribcage. She didn't know if the thing was merely enjoying the sight or trying to pose a new way to kill her- either or were unacceptable to her.

She felt her hands slipping once more before an ear-shattering pierce deprived her attention from the pain; the high-pitched attack threatened to damage her own ears as she found herself struggling to get free solely to escape it. The Hollow seemed to shriek back in response- this time, it was out of matching pain for the attack. It's gaping mouth was peeled back and she watched with cringing sight as the eyeballs that lined the top of its mouth burst open at the pitch; dark liquid spewing itself from the ruptured sacs as the thing threw its head backwards. Its arms withered about before she felt herself being tossed to the side.

It was either the force it used to throw her or the sheer distance she was from the ground but the collision afterwards was enough to break her body further. She smashed down harshly on her left arm and felt the appendage snap underneath her weight as her body followed the motion and worsened the injury.

The pain was barely noted though.

Forcing herself back up on her fairly stable arm, she felt her body instantly push the blood from her lips as streams of it trickled down her chin and flooded into the dip of her neck.

The thunder in the back of her head only furthered the pain of her body; burning the back of her eyes and rendering her form almost useless to motion. A short glance caught the jagged bone of her left arm sticking free from her flesh and the sheer whiteness of her fingertips as blood refused to continue further. If the blood loss didn't kill her, the pain would; and if that didn't, the Hollow would. But determination and the outright refusal to give in forced her to push through the excruciating heat that invaded her body and move herself back to her feet; her limbs were practically screaming for her to let go, to just… lie aside and die… but she wouldn't. Hell wasn't cold enough for that to happen. Not just yet.

The high-pitch shriek from before was quickly overrun by that of the Hollow; it only seemed to force more blood from in her ears as she turned back to where the battle continued on without her; eyes watching as the beast raged onward to deflect the high-frequency attack before it brought down even more regenerated bladed arms onto her partner.

"Kaname!"

The only thing that separated him from further impalement from those arms was the thin blade of his sword between them. Each strike had enough force to push him back foot by foot as he held the blade as tightly as he could to keep his body from being punished by even more physical damage; damage he couldn't risk getting right now… She could hear the metallic scrape of the tinier blades as they scratched eagerly at the blade between them; she could hear the crying echo of each tiny hit sending another crack through the sword.

The blade was breaking apart.

Every strike was chipping away at the silver surface; cracks split easily through the metal and threatened to crumble away at the handle.

It seemed like a last ditch effort to save his sword. Or maybe just a last ditch effort to end the battle; to end the physical torture.

When a majority of the arms pulled back… he dropped his own sword from his defense.


	21. Flashback End

**A/N: Ugh, this fight scene almost killed it for me lol. I'm not the least bit confident in half of my fight scenes but I tried a bit more with this one since there had been such a lead up with it. Hopefully I pulled it fairly well although I'll admit sometimes it seemed to cross into extremes. Maybe? **

It was a horrific scene that churned in what was left of her stomach.

The sword-like arms shot forward at the given opening and impaled through the vulnerable tissue of his body; ripping through his chest and shoulders as blood expelled itself from every injury and pieces of tissue draped over the curved blades. One of the arms tore through the front of his left cheek and escaped out of a new opening just behind his ear, near the base of his neck.

The initial attack lasted just seconds and yet… it felt as though it ran through her eyes in slow motion.

They weren't going to end like this…

It wasn't going to be the ending.

Somehow… she knew what she had to do; she knew a way. It was suicide maybe but she was dying anyways.

Fingers grabbed for her sword once more and ripped it from where it had been buried into the dirt as she pushed herself painstakingly forward. The Hollow was distracted… this was her only chance to finish this whole mess; to finally reclaim this battle once and for all.

Maintaining some form of energy and strength, she pushed herself into a run as she forced herself onto a nearby boulders and leaped; kicking herself into the air, she planned her next execution down to the very last motion with what part of her brain still functioned through the pain. Fingertips released her sword from her grasp and flung it downward towards the creature; watching and listening as the blade pierced the top of the Hollow's head and ruptured through one of its many eyes. A heavy shriek followed quickly afterwards as it tossed its nearly non-existent head back; it's massive jaws torn open as bloodied gums revealed some missing teeth and the mutilation of the eyes that had once lined its mouth. Forcing herself to curl into a small form, she fell easily towards the open trap and managed to extend one arm out just enough to take grasp of her blade before she disappeared into the creature.

The sheer amount of raw pain that tore through his body like salt in water nearly slaughtered what sense he still had connections to. The roaring of the Hollow was barely able to pass through the ringing of blood in his ears; his body barely able to recognize the feeling of the bladed arms as they ripped themselves free.

It was just one sudden, obvious moment of weakness that tore the last bit of balance from his body.

The heavy jolt resulting from hitting his knees into the ground was enough to force his injuries open even more; the heated pain was like a short-lived wake up call… it reminded him that he was still alive and he was still conscious.

Despite the damages and the pain… he could still fight.

At that last minute though… he had detected a faint reading of her energy before it disappeared completely. Where could she have gone? What exactly was she-

Oh Gods…

The second shriek from the creature only seemed to push his second-hand theory as a sharp burst of energy erupted from the creature; only this time, it didn't belong to the Hollow.

It belonged to her.

The Hollow continued to shriek and howl as its heavy body thrashed about in an attempt to rid itself of the invader inside of it; its energy was sharply dropping now; lowering itself from the critically high-level it had erupted into before.

She couldn't poison it before because its outer skin was able to reject the attack; however, its more vulnerable insides could do little to protect themselves. She was poisoning it from the inside out.

That crazy bitch…

But it could be finished off now… that was the important thing.

It was taking every last bit of his reserved energy to force himself back up; fingers attempting to keep a tight hold on his already damaged sword… it would hold though… just for this last attack. Trying to settle out and focus on what remained of his senses, a quick blurred survey of the Hollow's position helped him categorize his next few moves before he moved in towards the distracted creature.

The edge of his blade followed the thin membrane that coated the back of its front leg; slicing through the vulnerable tendon like it was paper. Almost instantly… the leg collapsed forward as its entire muscular structure was cut of its support; forcing its body to fall in towards one side.

The tip of his blade impaled through its already split chest before he moved down the length of its torso; quickly-timed motions allowed for him to avoid the nearby thrashing as he pushed the sword in deeper and further into the body above; tissues and skin peeling apart and allowing thick intestinal lengths to collapse down around him. The sound of the ongoing disembowelment and the dropping of organs from their protective membranes almost made up for the sheer torture the entire battle had been on them.

Ripping through the abdomen finished off the dying Hollow as it gave into its last fight of thrashing and convulsions before it fell forward; its massive body somehow managing to impale itself onto the fallen tree-line around it.

Heavy pants left his blood-laced lips as he slowly turned back towards the carcass; searching the rotting remains for any sign of energy or any burst of life. The entire environment seemed dead. It was complete, utter lifelessness.

"… Soifon?"

Her name barely sounded as though it came from his lips as he slowly forced himself back to the body; the pain felt as though it was receding from his own body now… something that would've been reviving but that wasn't the case now. After so much damage… things were beginning to shut down.

A grotesque noise erupted from the body; sounding like something moving through the soft intestines and firm tissues. Another noise followed soon after before a sharp gasp awarded the final sense of another living presence.

Hands pulled themselves through the thick cut of flesh and allowed for her slender body to fall freely towards the ground. Every part of her was soaked in blood and all sorts of other fluids; mild stomach acids partly ate at the flesh of her shoulders and neck.

But… she was alive.

He couldn't say that he had ever been more relieved to hear her now than any time before as he carried himself towards the sound of her breathing and the faint reading of her depleted energy levels. "You're insane…"

"I didn't see you doing anything." she replied in weak response as she carefully moved to force herself back to her feet; gladly taking his hand when he offered it to her. Her body shook from her dying energy and the inability to completely support itself; she felt herself fall against him for a moment and decided to give into it.

He was just as weak as she was but he couldn't bring himself to not offer her the support she needed; arms pulled her in towards his partly mangled body; never minding the sensation of the acid as it burned through his hands. In that one moment, it felt like everything had finally rolled to an end. The battle was over and they were still partly alive, probably not for long but at least for this moment.

"… Come on, we can't stay here."

His words felt as though they were barely registered as her ears still rang with the pounding of blood. Fingers were barely able to grasp onto the loose material of his uniform as she buried her head into his chest; taking in the torturous scent of blood that only seemed to coat the both of them. She wasn't sure where the hell they would be able to go before their injuries forced them down; how far they would exactly get but… she didn't want to bring it up. Pushing herself away from him briefly, she linked her good arm around his waist and tried to share the support of weight between them. "What exactly are we going to put into that report of ours?"

"I think we have enough physical evidence to substitute for a report." he remarked. "If not… I think we'll be lucky if we even remember anything after this."

"Luck would have to be on our side." she muttered as they slowly started back down the pathway. Every motion only seemed to bring a new awareness to every injury; she could feel her fractured, possibly broken, hip as it grinded with every step. It was cringing and almost unbearable but she could work herself through it.

It felt like it took days before they even managed to re-emerge back into the shattered remains of the former village; darkness still took to the horizon although the brief glimpse of light hinted that dawn was approaching. Hopefully soon. How they managed to make such a distance in the shape they were in was beyond her but she assumed the fair numbness of her body had something to do with it; the slowing pace of every heartbeat probably had something to contribute as well.

"Ever get the feeling that… we're just going to die here?"

A weak chuckle left his lips despite the sheer amount of pain it seemed to bring to his chest; the taste of metallic blood still coated his mouth but it was being to become less and less noticeable now. "I think at this point, it's progressed from a feeling to a sense of knowing."

She shared the light chuckle with him even if the small motion brought pain shearing over every aspect of her body it seemed. Open injuries were beginning to seal themselves in layers of dried blood; a few fresh streams still trickled their way down her arms and left a crimson trail to mark their path. Her left arm hung almost lifelessly at her side as the lack of color in her fingertips hinted at its ruptured veins and slashed artery- if it hadn't been for the faint grasp of energy that tried to keep it from rushing out, she would've passed out a long time ago; the jagged bone seemed to shift now and again beneath the flesh almost as if to test its elasticity.

"I thought I was going to lose you back there…"

"During which part?"

"The part where you smashed into that rock and broke every bone known to man." she answered; shuffling through footsteps as they worked themselves into the opening of the village. "… There was a sense of helplessness because I couldn't do anything to help you."

"I was pretty certain I was going to lose you a few times too… I don't think either of us would've been able to end that battle had it just been one of us."

"So maybe it was a good idea to bring you along after all."

"I wouldn't say 'good' idea but… something like that."

Maybe it was just the sheer weakness in her body or the black spots that hindered her vision.

The blood loss or the ultimate damage her spine had taken during the battle.

Her own inability to stop herself from wanting to give in to the pain.

The ground made a harsh collision point but this far in… there was little resistance to it. The lingering echo that followed every struggle of a heartbeat sounded easily in her broken chest; the faint curl of broken fingertips against the cold ground barely noticeable to her already deaden nerves.

* * *

><p>She had gotten Captain Byakuya's message earlier.<p>

To be honest, it seemed a bit rushed and forward but she didn't doubt the words he passed on to her. He wasn't sure if the mission had been a success or not but… he remarked that there was a possibility of resulting causalities. At first, she had assumed it was the villagers and was mentally preparing a list of teams to send out for medical evacuation… And then she finished his note.

Both Captain Soifon and Captain Tousen were rendered in critical conditions.

He almost doubted that they would survive the trip back to the city but alerted her regardless.

She ushered all of her available Division members and sent out messages to the ones who were currently off-duty; she wasn't going to take any chances… although she wondered exactly how bad their injuries really were. The message had been delivered a few hours ago and since then, her Division had been on edge. The waiting part was almost the worst as she ran everyone through their procedures and assured them that things would be easy to take under control.

She only returned to her office for a brief moment to look over something.

"Captain Unohana!"

The sudden shout pulled her attention away from her work and to where her silver-haired Lieutenant stood in the doorway; the look on her face was all she needed to know.

"You need to come see this…"

Nodding softly in return, she started out of her office and almost collided with another figure in the doorway. The dark-haired Division Captain had blood marked down the front of his uniform and held a fairly… concerned expression on his face- something of which surprised her.

"Captain Byakuya… how bad are they?"

"To be honest, I'm surprised they made it here in one piece."

That wasn't the least bit promising.

She stepped out into the slightly winding corridor down to the emergency area she had specifically set up for this… occasion. She tried not to undermine the Captain but… it was difficult to image what kind of injuries they were looking at here. The first step into the room was all she needed.

Pale fingertips hung lifelessly over the edge of one of the gurneys; crimson droplets slowly rolled their way downward and splashed into the ceramic floor underneath. The bend of her former elbow was broken and the chiseled end of a bone stuck cleanly out of the jagged flesh; her arm was twisted at a disproportionate angle as fresh cuts lined down and tore through the thin muscle of the limb. The once nimble skin of her slender shoulders had almost been eaten away by some form of… acid or something as the painful, blood-red muscle throbbed underneath the skinned portions.

The Second Division Captain had seen better days as the unbalanced level of her chest and ribcage already noted at severe damages; part of her ribcage had been pushed so harshly against the skin that it tore freely and was dressed only by the remaining shreds of her uniform. Her abdomen had been split clean in several places- she was surprised her stomach wall hadn't already ruptured and spilled out. Thank Heavens that it didn't though.

White lips were coursed so heavily with blood it was a wonder how she had even managed to breathe; fresh trickles of blood still made their way out of the corners of her lips.

"Where do we even start…?"

The words from her Lieutenant were barely heard as though she had only intended to ask herself that. She could only imagine what they would find upon closer observations. More torturous injuries that pushed the brink of the human body?

"Her heart rate is dropping!"

"The blood pressure's too low!"

"I- Captain, there are heavy injuries to the spinal area… and direct damages to the spine itself; how is this even possible?"

It felt like it was a rush of panic as the emergency team whisked about trying to clear anything and everything from her lungs to the blood that continued to flood freely from her mouth. She would have to wait until stats were stabilized before any major procedures could start; she couldn't operate on someone with a weak heart or flooding lungs.

"Captain, he stopped breathing!"

She turned at the different calls; eyes settling unfortunately on the Ninth Division Captain.

Even from an distant perspective, she could see the multitude of bones that were broken and shattered beneath his skin; the rush of discoloration around one shoulder said previous separation; the jolted shape of his chest spoke of complete sternum breakage and the obliteration of his ribcage; part of his arm had been broken and then reset back into place. And just like the Captain before, it seemed impossible to find an inch of flesh that wasn't split apart and punctured to the point of where he almost appeared to have been split nearly in two.

Part of his face had been ripped clean through; dark flesh peeled apart to reveal shredded muscle and shattered bone.

It was almost difficult to remain calm.

"Do report to Captain Yamamoto about this; tell him we'll be working around the clock."

"Should I tell him in advance to set up funeral procedurals."

"Not yet, Captain Byakuya… not yet."


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: The final chapter. I left it off as kind of being simplistic because I wanted to be careful with wrapping up this couple- they're difficult to pull off while maintaining in character. In all honesty, I would love to do a sequel that would go more indepth with them but I'm going to hold off on it for now. I've got plenty of projects to work on for now lol I need to finish them before I do all too much unless I just keep up a rigid updating schedule. Not sure just yet, would anyone really be interested in a sequel? I already have a working idea but don't want to disappoint anyone with it. Anyways, I want to thank everyone for the reviews and for following along; this was a difficult couple to pull off for me and I'm just glad I was able to complete a story with them. **

There was a thick silence that followed their recollection of the event; the silence seemed to mix well with the multitude of expressions- all of which seemed to range from a sense of cringing and confusion as though there was still something complicated about the entire mess.

"That would explain your injuries very well…" Captain Unohana started; her soft tone lightly breaking the silence. "I'm even more surprised that you managed to live through that. And that you woke up even after two weeks in a coma; I suppose there is a lot more that we should be thankful for."

"I would have to second Captain Unohana's remark." Byakuya replied. "It would explain why you were near death when we found you."

"Believe me, it gives us a lot more explanation than you would've wanted." Soifon remarked as she moved her hands to her hips; eyes barely skimming over the room full of respecting Captains. "I suppose it's some sense of 'closure' but at least we know the thing's dead and this whole mess can be over with. Maybe now I can get back to work."

"So quick to get back?" Ukitake questioned.

"We've been out for practically three weeks now; that's far too long."

"You wouldn't even consider some off time if it were suggested to you, would you?" Unohana asked.

She wrinkled her nose slightly at the offer before she glanced out the corner of her eye to the Ninth Captain at her side. "I would put it into consideration but there is a low possibility for it ever occurring. Despite my injuries, I still have my duties as a Captain to put into effect. Those duties will come first; my health can drag through the ground for now."

"Well that doesn't necessarily sound healthy…"

"I apologize but I think I'll retreat back to my Division for now; today's journey has taken quite a bit out of me and there is still a lot I'd like to review first before I engage in another discussion as such." she interrupted before she quickly added. "If you'll excuse the both of us actually, I think there's a lot of it we'd like to talk through a bit more."

"No, that's quite alright." Unohana nodded. "I'm sure you both would like to speak more on this subject; it may sound stupid but… it could be therapeutic for the both of you. Also, when you both get free time, I would still appreciate if you dropped by my Division and let me get one more check-up; I just want to make sure everything's still functioning."

"We understand your concern, Captain Unohana, and we'll be there as soon as time permits."

"Excellent."

She barely gave the room one more glance before she turned to go; watching as he turned to follow after her out of the corner of her eye. The corridor outside echoed lightly with their co-joining footsteps as silence made its mark between them while they were inside of the building. The things she had planned to say after the short meeting seemed to eventually blur itself from her mind and leave her with an empty basket of thoughts.

The rather cool, almost stormy atmosphere outside was chilling and yet seemed all the more fitting for the situation; she always preferred the darkness over anything else.

"What is there left for us to do then?"

"I'm not entirely sure." she answered as they stepped out onto the dirt path and followed it for only a short distance before she made the move to pursue a strip that trailed off. "Would you consider taking the time off if it was offered?"

"Not likely." he started. "As refreshing as it would be, I don't think I would have anything to do during the free time. Not to mention, I still have a lot to do for my Division as well and I can't risk taking any more time off as it is. At the most, I'll have to put off training or any other kind of physical activity for awhile and attempt to get things fully healed."

"I can't risk that." she replied as she moved one hand to rub the back of her neck.

"You nearly had your ribcage ripped out from your chest and several organs shredded against your spine." he reminded. "And you still can't risk a day of not training. That sounds like you."

"Well I have to keep myself in shape to avoid a repeat of that situation."

"If there's another Hollow out there with similar powers, I think we'll have a lot more to worry about."

"So you heard about the talks then? The ones that say… someone out there's been fucking around with their genetics or whatever; someone out there's making them stronger and giving them powers at such low levels?" she questioned.

"It's hard to ignore the talks, especially when you have firsthand experience of it."

She had to give him that one as she followed his words with a soft nod. "I guess as far as I'm concerned, the more that show up… it just means the more we'll have to train so we can kill them. I don't care how strong they are or whoever the hell is fucking with them, we can't risk a security hazard. Kill them at whatever expense we can."

"You know what, let's not talk about anything relating to Hollows anymore."

"Why? Freaking you out?"

"No, it's just that the more I talk about them, the more my scars start to hurt."

Shaking her head this time, she watched as the trail seemed to curve upward lightly to follow the path of a hill before it leveled out once more to reveal a rather open-looking field; every now and again it was used for multiple purposes, like another training field, occasionally it served as a small picnic-like area; she once caught a few couples using this area as a little 'outdoor retreat'- which she wished she could've erased from her mind. "… So, a few of those memories from before weren't completely true."

"Yeah, it was probably just the trauma making up false memories to fill in the gaps." he shrugged. "Most of them were close enough though, at least to give off the impression of what happened. At least it was something to have, right?"

"True, it was better than having nothing." she agreed; pausing momentarily as she tried to line up her next set of thoughts. It had been something that… had been bothering her ever since they got back. She had kept pushing it aside again and again till it seemed to dominate every passing thought and control every aspect of her mind. There was no more avoiding it and… in all honesty, she just wanted it to be over. It was only going to take a few words… that was it; just to get it off of her mind. "… I never said that I loved you but… I remember wanting to."

It took her a moment before she realized he wasn't at her side anymore.

She paused slightly in mid-step and waited to see if he would catch up to her, only to glance back and see that he had stopped completely a few feet behind her.

"Okay, look, I know that was really uncharacteristic of me and… completely out of my normal behavior but I figured it needed to be said. After everything that happened… I realized I made a lot of mistakes and most of them weren't just from that battle. I'd just like to move away from the past now and keep moving forward, which is more important right now."

Of all the things she could have possibly said… that wasn't exactly at the top of the list, or on any kind of list at all. It was… surprising and was enough to catch him considerably off-guard. "… And what part of this 'moving forward' act are you exactly working for?"

"The part where I can forget about the past and just live with these scars as best I can; kind of keep them around as a souvenir and tell people if I can survive having my ribcage on the brink of being torn out, then they had no reason to complain. At this point, I doubt there's anything else living that could possibly do as much damages as that."

"Careful, you might be playing a dangerous game with that phrase." he remarked as he continued on with this 'walk' of theirs. "Although, in all honesty, it would be difficult to try and surpass that last battle; if there was one that could do so, I think we would have a lot more to worry about."

She waited for him to arrive at her side before she continued on as well; hesitation gripped her for a moment before she reached over to brush fingertips against his hand- eventually pushing herself to settle her own hand inside his. "If you so much as mention this to anyone, I'll stage your accidental death and pull it off perfectly."

"You have my silence."


End file.
